Genderbend Adventures
by Be.Unique.X
Summary: Once upon a time, they were best friends. Then they were enemies. They're not exactly sure where they are now. The adventures of the female!Doctor and the Master with appearances from the companions.
1. Utopia: 1

"Where are we, Doctor?" Mark asks with a wide smile as he leans against the console. The Doctor grins at her newest companion as she dashes around the console, pressing the necessary buttons and pulling a lever.

"Cardiff," She replies with a wide grin and notices the confused and disappointed look Mark had on his face.

"Cardiff?" Mark questions, wondering why they were in an insignificant city on Earth when they could be in a different time, place and/or galaxy.

"Yes, Cardiff. What no one realizes is that Cardiff is built on a rift in time and space. Like the San Andreas Fault in California but this bleeds energy. Once in a while I land the TARDIS here, open up the engines and let her soak in the energy to use as fuel," The Doctor replies, stepping away from the console as she says this in one breath. Mark was used to her rapid speech and nods, going over what she had said in his head at a slower pace.

"So it's a pit stop." Mark says, understanding lightening up his features. The Doctor grins and leans back against the TARDIS, moving a piece of her hair from her eyes. This was one of her younger - and admittedly better looking - regenerations. With chocolate brown hair that fell just past her shoulders in messy waves, eyes the same colour and wide grin she was easily one of the prettiest regenerations she has had. She was tall and thin and wore a blue pencil skirt and matching blazer with red converse. Her unusual outfit actually looked good on her and she always had her long tanned trench coat with pockets that were bigger on the inside.

"Exactly." The Doctor nods and turns to look at the console and up at the Time Rotor as the

TARDIS soaked up the energy from the rift.

As she did this, a handsome man dressed in a long coat, that didn't fit in with the current time's modern fashion, and a backpack on his back was running towards the unusual blue box which

was placed in front of water tower, above the Torchwood Hub. Captain Jack Harkness ran as fast as he could towards the box which contained the person he had been waiting for since his Vortex Manipulator broke after leaving him stuck in 1869 after the incident on the Game Station.

"Doctor!" He shouted, hoping that the TARDIS wouldn't dematerialise after the Doctor finally appeared. He would finally get some answers.

"All powered up. Engine's are full!" The Doctor flicks a switch and walks around the console with furrowed do eyebrows. "Quicker than normal," She muttered to herself as her eyes drift to the monitor and slightly widen. The sprinting figure of Jack Harkness appeared on the TARDIS monitor. The Doctor sees him and a look of panic appeared on her face, an expression she tried

to hide from Mark. She quickly starts the TARDIS with a sad look in her eye that lingers on the still running body of her old friend. She wished she could talk to him, apologize for what Ross had done to him, but even through the monitor she could see the damage to time that had happened around him.

Outside, Jack could see the TARDIS starting to leave and leaps with a determined expression on his face. He wasn't going to let her leave again. Inside, the TARDIS console emitted sparks and the Doctor and Mark were thrown to the floor with gasps.

"What's that?" Mark breathes, clinging onto the console as the TARDIS flew through the

Vortex even more violently than usual.

"We're accelerating?" The Doctor says in a confused voice as she looked at the screen, her hands cling onto the console. "We're going into the future. When I've just set the co-ordinates for the past! The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. 50 trillion. What? The year 100 trillion. That's impossible!" The Doctor says with wide eyes, looking at the complicated symbols with shock and a little awe. No Time Lord had ever dared to come this far into the future.

"Why?" Mark was oblivious to the Doctor's thoughts as he questioned her about what was so special about that time. "What happens then?"

"We're going to the end of the universe." The Doctor says and gives up trying to control the TARDIS who was determined that they were going to the end of the universe. As the Time Lord and her companion clung onto the console inside the TARDIS, Jack was clinging onto the outside of the time and space machine as it traveled through the Vortex.

"DOCTOR!" He yells, starting to feel a little light headed and he groaned in his head when he realized what was going to happen. He didn't realize when the TARDIS had landed; his body released his hold onto the blue box and his body dropped on the floor, his eyes closed. Dead.

*Doctor Who*

The TARDIS lands with a thud and the Doctor and Mark stand up. The Doctor looks at

Mark with eyes wider than usual and a questioning look in them.

"We've landed. No idea where though," She mutters the last part to herself as she looked at the monitor, her eyes seemingly stuck on the year, 100 trillion.

"So what's out there?" Mark didn't know whether to be excited or scared; excited because he was at the end of everything and so far in the future or scared because this was the end of everything - all the planets, all the stars, all the people! - and even the Doctor didn't look too excited to be

here.

"I don't know." She replies to Mark who laughs a half hearted laugh.

"Say that again. That's rare." The Doctor smiled slightly before walking away from the console and facing Mark.

"Not even the Time Lords came this far. All too scared of change, I suppose, and the end of everything is the biggest change they'll ever see." The Doctor's eyes were slightly distant, as though reliving something from a long time ago. "We should leave. We should go. We... should really, really go." The Doctor looked at Mark and grinned widely, causing Mark to smile back - because this was the Doctor he was used to - before she headed for the door.

The Doctor steps out, observing the bleak landscape and feeling the slow, almost tired, movement of the planet under her feet. Mark followed her out, his eyes looking excitedly at sightings front of him before his eyes drift to see Jack on the ground.

"Oh my God!" Mark's medical training kicked in, drawing the attention of the Doctor as he runs over to Jack. The Doctor sighs in her head and her eyes drift back to the TARDIS as she listened to the almost melodic hums that were in the back of her head. So the TARDIS didn't like Jack then. "I can't get a pulse. Hold on you've got that medical kit thing." The Doctor opens her mouth to tell him not to bother but Mark was quicker at running than he ever was before and he ran into the TARDIS before the words left her mouth.

Her eyes return back to the still figure on the floor and she almost flinches at the pain she felt in her hearts. Another person's life ruined by her. She walked over to Jack's body and touched his arm softly, almost missing his constant attempt of flirting that would've caused had he been awake.

"Hello again. Oh, I'm sorry," She whispers, standing up quickly when she felt Mark in the console room of the TARDIS, knowing that he would be leaving the ship any second. Mark dashed out of the TARDIS, medical kit in hand, and ran past the Doctor to his patient.

"Here we go." He whispers to himself and sets to work, looking at the man properly for the first time. Handsome - very handsome in fact, he thought grudgingly - with a unique cologne - never smelt _that _one before! - and an interesting sense of fashion which reminded Mark of the Doctor. "It's a bit odd, though." He voices his thoughts, dragging the Doctor from whatever she was concentrating on. "Not very 100 trillion, that coat's more like World War II." He says looking at the coat which belonged in the past, not this far into the future.

"I think he came with us." Mark noticed her gaze flicker back to the TARDIS and her face turn into a frown before she shook her head with a sigh. She thought this was unusual but then remembered this was the Doctor. She could be talking to the TARDIS, for all he knew!

"How do you mean? From Earth?" This seemed impossible to Mark; how could someone travel from Earth to wherever they are without being _in _the TARDIS with them? Because he was most definitely _not _in the TARDIS.

"Must've been clinging to the outside of the TARDIS all the way through the vortex." The TARDIS' upset hums in her head confirmed that. "Not a surprise, that's very him," She says with a smirk.

"What? Do you know him?" Mark asked, his eyes concentrating on the man in front of him rather than the Doctor so she didn't see the slight shine of his eyes; would she be this uncaring about his death one day? Or would she open her eyes and forget about the great Ross Tyler to notice how he felt for her?

"Friend of mine." The Doctor says, oblivious to Mark's thoughts. "Used to travel with me. Back in the old days." Mark guessed that 'the old days' included Ross Tyler, the man he had heard so much about, the one he was constantly being compared to and the one that had been locked away in a parallel universe with no way of returning.

"But he's...I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat." Mark was looking at the dead body on the ground. He had died trying to see the Doctor again! And she was stood there, hands in pockets, without shedding a single tear for her now deceased 'friend'. "There's nothing. He's dead."

As he says this, Jack gasped, taking the first breath of this new life and grabbing onto Mark - who yelled in surprise and fear - for support.

"Oh well, so much for me!" He said, realizing that the Doctor knew this would happen. That explained her calm - almost patient - demeanor. "It's all right. Just breathe deep. I've got you now." He tried to comfort the gasping man, the Doctor in him coming out.

Jack finally looked at the person who was holding him and his deep breaths started to slow down. He had no idea where the TARDIS had taken him but if there was a handsome man willing to hold him and a pretty girl watching, who cares?

"Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?" He asks, looking the dark skinned beauty up and down in a way that Mark was reminded of Shakespeare. Why did he seem to attract the attention of men yet the Doctor - who was most definitely female - did not even see him?

"Mark Jones." He replies with a smile, still holding him in case there were any side effects from whatever he had just gone through.

"Nice to meet you, Mark Jones." Jack says, his voice dripping with the charm that he had perfected in his many years alive.

"Oh, don't start!" Jack heard someone complain and he frowned, not recognizing the voice but knowing that it must be the Doctor. She was probably one of the only girls not to fall for that voice.

"I was just saying hello." He says firmly.

"It's fine," Mark says. Mark grabs his arm as he starts to stand, helping him to his feet.

Jack straightens his coat and looks up at the woman who must be the Doctor. Jack looked the Doctor up and down in the same way that he had to Mark only moments before. She seemed so different, he almost couldn't believe that this was the same woman. But then he looked at her eyes; the old eyes that didn't match the young face. Eyes that he saw in his reflection everyday. The short black hair and leather jacket was gone, replaced by brown hair and pretty pencil skirt which Jack very much approved of. She looked much more happy than the last time he had seen her, even though she was giving him a cold stare.

"Doctor." Jack says with a nod of his head.

"Captain." She replies and both of them smile at each other, Jack grabbing the Doctor in his arms as she rolls her eyes but laughs. "Oh, you'll never change!" She says.


	2. Utopia: 2

The Doctor, Mark and Jack were stood on the top of a cliff which overlooked a large canyon which looked as though it once held some sort of a city.

"Is that a city?" Mark asks, looking over the landscape.

"A city or a hive. Or a nest. Or a conglomeration. One of the above," The Doctor ignored Jack's amused look which was pointed at her. "Looks like it was grown. But look there. That's like pathways, roads maybe? Must have been some sort of life. Long ago. A very long time ago," She says looking up at the dark sky.

"What killed it?" Mark asks quietly, wondering what could've happened to killed such a large area.

"Time. Just time. It catches up with everything. And everyone," Jack and the Doctor shared a look, both thinking of their very long lives. "Everything's dying now. All the great civilizations have gone. This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing." She pointed up at the dark sky where no light could be seen.

"It must have an atmospheric shell. We should be frozen to death." Jack says, looking up at the sky as though expecting to see said atmospheric shell.

"Well, Mark and I, maybe. Not so sure about you, Jack." She looks over at Jack with that cold look she always got when talking about Jack's immortality.

"What about the people? Does no one survive?" Mark asks, oblivious to the tension between the Doctor and Jack.

"I suppose we have to have hope. You humans have been through so much, I doubt that there will be none of you left." The Doctor says, looking at the landscape in front of them.

"Well, he's not doing too bad." Jack agrees, pointing to a man who was sprinting, obviously trying his hardest not to get caught by the group of people behind him.

"Is it me, or does that look like a hunt?" The Doctor asks slowly, focusing her eyes on the running figures in front of them. "Come on!" She says, quickly running to where the man was still being chased. Jack and Mark followed, Jack wondering how the Doctor could run so quickly in that pencil skirt of hers and his mind drifted to ideas which are better left unsaid of what he, the Doctor and that skirt could do.

They finally reach to where the man was running towards him. The three of them stopped and

Jack grabs the man to stop him.

"I've got you," He says in a comforting voice, gripping the man's arms tight to stop him from running like he so obviously wanted to.

"We've gotta run! They're coming! They're coming!" He says breathlessly, panic coloring every word. In response to his panic, Jack pushes the man towards the Doctor who asks him what they were and getting no reply from the scared man. Meanwhile, Jack pulls out his revolver, aiming it at the creatures in front of him.

"Jack, don't you dare!" The Doctor shouts at Jack who sighs in irritation. After all the time he

had spent with Torchwood, he hadn't had anyone stopping him shooting anyone; in fact quite the opposite, Torchwood encouraged the use of guns.

Jack fires in the air and the creatures stop, looking at the four of them in fear. They obviously have had bad experiences with guns in the past.

"What the hell are they?" Mark asks, looking at the Doctor who shook her head, observing the creatures for any noticeable features which would tell the Doctor what species they were.

"There's more of them. We've got to keep going." The man says, getting ready to continue running from the creatures.

"I've got a ship nearby. It's safe. It's not far, it's just over there." The Doctor looks back where they have just come from and sees more of the creatures advancing. "Or maybe not." She says slowly, looking at the large group of creatures coming towards them from different directions.

"We're close to the silo. If we get to the silo, then we're safe." The man's says, pulling the

Doctor's arm in the direction of the silo.

The Doctor turns to Jack and Mark asking only one word. "Silo?"

"Silo." Jack agrees.

"Silo for me." Mark says and then they were all running towards the silo, the man leading them to safety.

*Doctor Who*

The guard leads the Doctor, Mark and Jack into a large tunnel carved into a mountain; a safe place for the surviving humans against the Futurekind. In a lab inside the silo, Professor Yana and his insect-like assistant Chantho were working, trying to figure out how to get safely to Utopia when a voice was heard, causing both to stop working.

"Professor! We've got four new humans inside. One of them is calling herself a doctor." The guard says and Yana stops working, looking at where the voice was coming from with an excited expression.

"Of medicine?" He asks looking hopeful.

"She says of everything." He replied and the Professor smiles.

"A scientist! Oh my word! Just... just, Chantho, oh, I don't know! I'm coming!" Chantho smiles fondly at the Professor, continuing to work on the machine in front of her as Yana leaves to find the Doctor of everything.

*Doctor Who*

The Doctor, Mark and Jack were following the young boy and the man that had led them to the silo as they called out for his family. The long corridors were filled with people - refugees - who were waiting to be rescued, waiting to be taken to Utopia.

"Don't you see that?" the Doctor asked. She was looking at the people around her with a smile on her face. "The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, much better than a million years evolving into clouds of gas. And then another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape. The fundamental humans."

"Kistane Shafekane." Creet continued calling.

"End of the universe and here you are." The Doctor continued, still smiling and almost skipping, something which amused Jack. "No getting rid of you lot!" She says with a smile at Mark who gives a smug grin, proud to be of the same species.

"Is there a Kistane Shafekane?" Creet called.

"That's me." A woman said, standing up. She gasped as she spotted the man, her son. "Mother?" he said softly.

"Oh my God." She breathed.

"Beltone?" He asked, and ran to them, embracing them in a tight hug.

"It's not all bad news." Mark said with a smile. The Doctor nods, a smile on her face but inside she was a little upset. The feeling of loneliness creeping get up on her once again.

"Captain Jack Harkness." She heard Jack say and turned around to see him facing a young man, holding out his hand. "And who are you?"

"Jack!" The Doctor says, walking between the two men, her hand going inside her jacket to find her sonic screwdriver. "Give us a hand with this." She continues, attempting to open a door with the screwdriver. And failing.

Jack reluctantly let go of the man's hand and joined Mark and the Doctor.

"It's half deadlocked." The Doctor told him. "See if you can overwrite the code. Let's find out where we are." Jack got to work, typing on a keypad by the door as the Doctor used her sonic screwdriver and a moment later the door slid open suddenly, causing the Doctor to almost fall through.

"Gotcha." Jack said, grabbing the Doctor's jacket and pulling her back. "Thanks." The Doctor told him.

Jack grinned at him and shook his head. "How did you cope without me?" he asked her and the Doctor grinned back, reminding Jack of her previous regeneration.

"Now that is what I call a rocket." Mark said, looking up at the large rocket with awe on his face.

"They're not refugees." The Doctor said, everything clicking into place in her mind. "They're passengers."

"He asked if they could take him to Utopia." Jack said, looking at the Doctor who frowned as she looked over the rocket.

"The perfect place." The Doctor said thoughtfully as she scans the rocket with her screwdriver. "100 trillion years, it's still the same old dream. Humans! You don't change, do you?" She says with a slight laugh, still looking at the ship.

"Do you recognize those engines?" She asked Jack who shook his head.

"Nope." Jack said. "Whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot, though." "Boiling."The Doctor agreed and closed the door again.

"But what's Utopia? Does it actually exist?" Mark asks the Doctor who runs a hand through her hair, lost in thought.

They were distracted by an older man running up to them, he looks at the two men who stood above him before his eyes rested on the smaller woman with glee, wondering how someone as young as her could be a scientist but taking it in stride; they needed all the help they could get.

"The Doctor?" he asked, pointing at her and she grins at him.

"That's me," She confirms and a matching grin appeared on the Professor's face.

"Good." The man said, taking the Doctor's hand and dragging her away. "Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good."

"It's good apparently." The Doctor said to the others, causing Jack and Mark to laugh and follow behind them.

*Doctor Who*

The group entered a make shift lab and were greeted by a blue humanoid bug. "Chan-welcome-tho." The being told them.

"This is the gravitissimal accelerator." The older man said, ignoring the greeting and pulling the Doctor with him to look at some of the machinery in the room. "It's part of the..."

"Chan-welcome-tho." The Blue creature said to Mark and Jack.

"And over here is the footprint impellor system." The man, who had called himself Professor Yana, continued. "If you know anything about endtime gravity..."

"Hello." Mark replied. "Who are you?"

"Chan-Chantho-tho." She replied.

"But we can't get it to harmonize!" Yana concluded. The Doctor looked around her with wonder which was almost child like; she could learn so much.

"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack told Chantho, holding out his hand. "Stop it." The Doctor said without turning around.

"Can't I say hello to anyone?" Jack whined.

"Nope." She called back. "Cause I know where your hellos lead."

"Chan-I do not protest-tho." Chantho said. Jack winks at her, causing her to giggle as he walks over to where the Doctor and Professor were stood.

"So what have we got here?" he asked, causing the Professor to jump, not realizing he had made his way over to them, whilst the Doctor calmly turned around, glasses now on her face as she put down a piece of something she had been examining.

Mark followed him, giving his back pack an odd look when it started making a noise.

"And all this feeds into the rocket?" the Doctor asked, ignoring Jack and choosing to question the

Professor who was watching her intently.

"Yes, except without a stable footprint, we'll never escape velocity." Yana told them. "If only we could harmonize the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yet make it. What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?"

"Well," the Doctor said, looking at the system. "Um, basically... sort of... not a clue." "Nothing?" Yana asked, looking disappointed.

"I'm not from around these parts." The Doctor told him. "I've never seen a system like it. Sorry."

Time Lords hadn't dared to come this far into the future and therefore the Doctor had never learned about anything here. She recognized some pieces but they were rusty and falling to pieces, obviously past their time.

"No, no. I'm sorry." Yana told her, his hopeful expression replaced with an exhausted one. "It's my fault. There's been so little help."

Mark was ignoring them, choosing to investigate the noise coming from Jack's bag. He opened it and pulled out the container inside. A container holding a slender hand which was suspended in a bubbling liquid.

"Oh my God." He said, setting it on the table quickly. "You've got a hand. A hand in a jar. A

hand in a jar in your bag."

"That's-that's my hand!" the Doctor said, coming over to take a closer look. She frowned and held up one hand next to the jar, as if comparing the two hands which were identical.

"Chan-is this a tradition amongst your people-tho?" Chantho asked.

"Not on my street." Mark told her. "What d'you mean that's your hand? You've got both your hands, I can see them."

"Long story." The Doctor told her, studying the hand. "I lost my hand Christmas Day. In a swordfight."

"What?" Mark asked, disbelieving. "And you grew another hand?"

"Um, yeah." The Doctor replied. "Yeah, I did. Yeah." She held up her hand with a wide smile and fluttered her fingers. "Hello."

"Might I ask what species are you?" Yana asked the Doctor, looking at her intently with a curious expression on his face.

"Time Lord." The Doctor replied. "Last of. Heard of them?" Yana shook his head. "Legend or anything?" The Doctor asked. "Not even a myth? Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling."

"Chan-It is said that I am the last of my species too-tho." Chantho told them.

"Sorry, what was your name?" the Doctor asked her.

"My assistant and good friend, Chantho." Yana told him. "A survivor of the Malmooth. This was their planet, Malcassairo, before we took refuge."

"The city outside, that was yours?" the Doctor asked. "Chan-the conglomeration died-tho." She replied sadly.

"I'm sorry. I know what it's like to see your home destroyed," She says and Chantho sniffs but smiles at the Doctor.

"Chan-most grateful-tho." Chantho replied.

"You grew another hand?" Mark asked her, still looking at her with wide eyes.

"Hello again." She says with a wave of her hand. "It's fine. Look. Really, it's me." Mark takes her hand with a shake of her head.

"All this time and you're still full of surprises." She told her with a nervous laugh, still not sure

_how _she had grown another hand.

"Chan-you are most unusual-tho." Chantho told him.

"Well..." the Doctor drawled with a smile, used to hearing it by now.

"So what about those things outside?" Jack asked. "The Beastie Boys. What are they?"

"We call them the Futurekind." Yana told them. "Which is a myth in itself, but, uh, it is feared they are what we will become. Unless we reach Utopia."

"And Utopia is..." the Doctor prompted.

"Oh, every human knows of Utopia." Yana told her. "Where have you been?"

"We're a bit out of our time. So, Utopia?" Professor Yana looks at the Doctor curiously but crooked a finger and led them to a computer that showed a navigational chart with a blinking red dot.

"The call came from across the stars over and over again." He told them. "Come to Utopia. Originated from that point."

"Where is that?" Jack asked.

"Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness." Yana told them. "Out toward the wildlands and the dark matter reefs. Calling us in. The last of the humans. Scattered across the night."

"What do you think's out there?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know." Yana told them. "A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind-to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But it's worth a

look, don't you think?"

"Oh yes." The Doctor agreed with a smile. Even in the future, the humans were still so lovable!

"And the signal keeps modulating, so it's not automatic." She continued. "There's a good sign.

Someone's out there. And that's... ooh, that's a navigation matrix, isn't it? So you can fly without the stars to guide you." Her voice fades as she notices the pained expression on the Professor's face and his distant eyes.

"Professor?" She asked, looking at him closely. "Professor?" She asked again, touching his arm softly to draw him out of his thoughts.

"I-Right, that's enough talk." Yana said, seeming to come back. "There's work to do. Now if you could leave. Thank you." The Doctor's eyes followed him as he walked away and soon she was following him, standing behind him with a confused frown.

"You all right?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes." Yana replied shortly. "I'm fine! And busy!"

"Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it?" the Doctor asked him, causing him to stop. "The footprint mechanism thing, it's not working."

"We'll find a way." Yana told him.

"You're stuck on this planet." The Doctor said. "And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they just think they're gonna fly."

"Well, it's better to let them live in hope." Yana said sadly.

"Quite right, too." The Doctor agreed. "And I must say, Professor..." She removed her coat and handed it to Jack as he passed. "Um, what was it?"

"Yana." He told him.

"Professor Yana. This new science is well beyond me," the Doctor told him, "but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverse the boost. So, I wonder what would happen if I did this?"

She picked up the circuit and pointed the sonic screwdriver at it before switching it on.

"Chan-it's working-tho!" Chantho said happily as the system sprang to life.

"But how did you do that?" Yana asked.

"Oh, while we've been chatting away, I forgot to tell you." She said grinning. "I'm brilliant."

"What happened to fantastic?" Jack asks as he puts her coat down and looked around the lab.

"Doesn't fit the teeth." She says with a shrug, not noticing the Professor pausing in his work to

look at the Doctor curiously.


	3. Utopia: 3

_"All passengers prepare for immediate boarding."_

Smiling families in the corridors began to get their things together. The noise was deafening as everybody realized that this was it; they would be going to Utopia.

In the lab, everyone was working at different controls, trying to make the journey to Utopia as safe as possible. Mark and Chantho headed down the corridors in the opposite direction of everyone heading to the ship, their arms full of circuit boards. As they walked, Mark spotted the young boy from earlier who had helped the man find his family.

"Excuse me." He called. "Hey, what was your name? Creet?" "That's right, sir." He replied.

"Who are you with, Creet?" Mark asked. "You got family?" "No, sir." He told her. "There's just me."

"Well, good luck." He told him. "What do you think it's going to be like in Utopia?"

"My mum used to say the skies are made of diamonds." Creet told him.

"Good for her." Mark replied. "Go on, off you go. Get your seat."

He nodded and moved on, while they made their way back to the lab. Jack smiled as the two walked in whilst the Doctor and the Professor carried on working, rushing around and working as though they had known each other for years. Captain Jack noticed this and tried to hide his smirk. The Doctor picked up one of the wires on the table, frowning when she realized she had never seen something like this before. She brought it to her nose and her face lit up when she realized what it was.

"Is this...?" She asked the Professor who had been watching her with a smirk. "Yes, gluten extract." Yana replied. "Binds the neutralino map together."

"But that's food!" The Doctor said. "You've built this system out of food and string and staples.

Professor Yana, you're a genius."

"Says the woman who made it work." Yana replied.

"Oh... it's easy coming in at the end but... you're stellar." The Doctor told him. "This is...this is magnificent. I don't often say that 'cause... well, 'cause of me."

"Well, even my title is an affectation." Yana told him. "There hasn't been such a thing as a university for over a thousand years. I've spent my life going from one refugee ship to another."

"If you had been born in a different time, you'd be revered." The Doctor stated as Yana chuckled. "I mean it. Throughout the galaxies."

"Oh, those damned galaxies." Yana complained jokingly. "They had to go and collapse. Some admiration would have been nice. Just a little. Just once."

"Well you've got it now." The Doctor told him with a smile. The two smiled at each other before the Doctor looked down, continuing with her work. She had promised herself she wouldn't get too close with anyone after losing Ross, no matter how brilliant they were. "But that footprint engine thing. You can't activate it from on board. It's gotta be from here. You're staying behind." She says, looking up at him as he nods.

"With Chantho." Yana confirmed. "She won't leave without me. Simply refuses."

"Sounds like someone I know," Yana's eyes drift to Mark but the Doctor's thoughts were on

Ross. "You would give your life so they could fly."

"Oh, I think I'm a little too old for Utopia." Yana told him. "Time I had some sleep."

"Professor." A voice called over the intercom. "Tell the Doctor we've found her blue box."

"Finally!" She says with a smile and closes her eyes when she can feel her connection with the

TARDIS getting stronger as she got closer.

"Doctor." Jack called and they all gathered around a monitor to see the TARDIS safely inside the silo. The Doctor put a hand on Yana's shoulder and smiled at the man.

"Professor, it's a wild stab in the dark, but I may just have found you a way out." She told the man.

*Doctor Who*

The Doctor pulled a power cord out from under the console and ran for the door. "Extra power." The Doctor called running to an outlet and inserting the cord. "Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting? Jack, you're in charge of the retro-feeds."

A second later, Mark joined Jack and the Doctor.

"Oh, am I glad to see that thing." Mark said, spotting the TARDIS. Jack chuckles from where he was stood, making sure nothing went wrong and Chantho went over to Yana.

"Chan-Professor, are you alright-tho?" she asked him.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm fine." he told her. "I'm fine. Just get on with it."

"Connect those circuits into the spar-" Jack told Mark, "same as that last lot. But quicker." "Yes, sir." Mark told him with a grin, walking away as Jack winks at him.

The Doctor looked over at Yana who was still trying to convince Chantho to leave him and carry on with her work.

"You don't have to keep working." She said to the man, noticing that he had that distant and pained look again. "We can handle it."

"It's just a headache." Yana told her. "Just-just noise inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise inside my head."

"What sort of noise?" the Doctor asked concerned, looking away from her work and into the

Professor's hazy eyes.

"It's the sound of drums." Yana replied. "More and more, as though it's getting closer." "When did it start?" the Doctor asked and couldn't help but feel as though she had heard

something like that before.

"Oh, I've had it all my life." Yana told her. "Every waking hour. Still, no rest for the wicked."

He stood and got back to work. The Doctor watched him for a moment before getting back to her work.

*Doctor Who*

"Professor, are you getting me?" a voice called; Yana walked quickly over to the monitor.

"I'm here!" he replied. "We're ready! Now all you need to do is connect the couplings. Then we can launch."

The signal went out.

"God sakes!" he ranted. "This equipment! Needs rebooting all the time!" "Anything I can do?" Mark asked. "I've finished that lot."

"Yes, if you could." Yana said, making room for him. "Just press the reboot key every time the picture goes out."

"Certainly, sir." Mark agreed. "Just don't ask me to do shorthand." "Are you still there?" The man asked, coming back on the screen.

"Ah, present and correct." Yana told him. "Send your man inside. We'll keep the levels down from here."

They all waited, continuing with their work but periodically looking up at the monitor. "He's inside." Finally came the reply. "And good luck to him."

"Captain, keep the levels below the red." Yana ordered Jack.

"Where is that room?" the Doctor asked as she joined Yana and Mark.

"It's underneath the rocket." Yana told her. "Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."

"Stet?" the Doctor asked. "Never heard of it." _Seems to be happening a lot today, _She continued in her head.

"You wouldn't want to hear of it." Yana told him. "But it's safe enough. We can hold the radiation back from here."

They watched the monitor closely when suddenly, an alarm began to sound. "It's rising... 0.2!" Yana warned. "Keep it level!"

"Yes, sir!" Jack called back before more alarms started wailing.

"Chan-we're losing power-tho!" Chantho yelled. The Doctor ran to the controls, trying to keep hold.

"Radiation's rising!" the Doctor yelled.

"The chamber's going to flood!" Yana called to the man in the control room. "Jack!" the Doctor yelled. "Override the vents!"

"Get out!" they heard the man yell to the tech. "Get out of there! Jate!" Jack picked up two live cables.

"We can jump start the override!" he called before slamming them together.

"NO!" The Doctor screamed, turning around but jumping back when the wires made contact as power coursed through Jack's body and he fell to the ground and didn't move.

"I've got him." Mark said, running to Jack's side.

"Chan-don't touch the cables-tho." Chantho said, pushing one aside.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Yana told them. The Doctor shook her head, standing at Jack's feet and looking downs the him with her thoughts racing.

"The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?" the Doctor asked.

"Without the couplings, the engines will never start." Yana told her. "It was all for nothing!"

"Oh, I don't know." The Doctor said, walking forward. "Mark, leave him." She told him, pulling

him up gently.

"You've gotta let me try." Mark protested.

"Come on." She said, pulling him away. "He'll be fine. You've seen this happen before." She let go of him when she saw that he was safely with Chantho and turned to Yana. "It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room no man can enter without dying. Is that correct?"

"Yes." Yana replied sadly.

"Well..." the Doctor began.

Jack gasped as he came back to life and the Doctor removed her glasses, smirking slightly at Yana's shocked expression.

"I've got just the man." She told Yana.

"Was someone kissing me?" Jack asked.

"Is that all you can think about?" She demands, turning around so quickly that her hair flew and almost hit the Professor.

"We'll, it's better than what happened before," The two exchange a look and the Doctor knew it was time for that inevitable talk.

*Doctor Who*

Jack and the Doctor quickly ran down the corridors to the control room.

"Lieutenant, get onboard the rocket!" the Doctor called as they skid to a stop. "I promise you're gonna fly."

"The chamber's flooded!" the lieutenant protested.

"Trust me." The Doctor told him. "We've found a way of tripping the system. Run!"

The lieutenant ran off, and Jack began removing his shirt.

"Wh-What are you taking your clothes off for?" the Doctor stuttered. "I'm going in." Jack told him.

"Well by the looks of it, I'd say that stet radiation doesn't affect clothing, only flesh." She told the man in confusion.

"I look good though." Jack said, running to the door and missing the roll of the Doctor's eyes. He reached for the handle and stopped. "I've always meant to ask..."

"Ask what?" the Doctor asked.

"How long have you known?" Jack asked him.

The Doctor paused.

"Ever since I ran away from you." She said honestly. "Good luck."

Jack entered the room, slamming the door shut quickly after him. He went straight to the coupling as the Doctor watched through the window.

*Doctor Who*

_Mark was still in the lab, trying his hardest not to eavesdrop on the conversation between Jack and the Doctor. He glanced around and spotted a distraught Yana, who was staring at the TARDIS._

_"What's wrong?" he asked him._

_"Chan-Professor, what is it-tho?" Chantho asked._

_"Time travel." He said. "They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed. But what would I know? I'm just a stupid old man. Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked."_

_He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fobwatch and Mark's eyes widen when he recognizes the watch; the same type of watch which held the Doctor's Time Lord conscience when she was hiding from the Family as a human._

_"Time and time and time again." Yana continued. "Always running out on me." "Can I have a look at that?" Mark asked._

_"Oh, it's only an old relic." He told him with a chuckle. "Like me." "Where did you get it?" Mark asked, holding it in his hand. _

_"Hm?" he replied. "I was found with it."_

_"What do you mean?" Mark asked._

_"An orphan in the storm." Yana replied. "I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver_

_Devastation. Abandoned with only this." _

_"Have you opened it?" Mark asked. _

_"Why would I?" Yana asked. "It's broken."_

_"How do you know it's broken if you never opened it?" Mark asked. "It's stuck." Yana said. "It's old. It's not meant to be. I don't know." "Does it matter?" Yana asked him._

_"No." Mark says in a tone that obviously meant yes. "I'm going to go find the Doctor and_

_Jack," Mark runs out of the room, ignoring Yana's and Chantho's confused stares._

*Doctor Who*

"Yes!" Jack said as the last coupling slipped into place.

"Now get out of there!" the Doctor called. "Come on!" Jack slipped through the door as the Doctor called the lieutenant. "Lieutenant, everyone on board?" She asked.

"Ready and waiting." the lieutenant answered.

"Stand by!" the Doctor called. "Two minutes to ignition."

She hung up the phone and turned back to the controls; a few seconds later, Mark ran into the room.

"Ah, nearly there." She told them. "The footprint is a gravity pulse. It stamps down, the rocket shoots up. Bit primitive. It's gonna take the both of us to keep it stable."

"Yeah that's nice. We've got problems." Mark said, moving in front of her to grab her attention. "What are you talking about?" the Doctor said, moving around him. "Everything's going fine." "Doctor, it's the professor." Mark told her. "He's got this watch. He's got a fobwatch. It's the same as yours! Same writing on it. Same... everything." The Doctor stopped and looked at them.

"Don't be ridiculous." She whispers but Mark clearly heard her. She opens her mouth to reply

when the Doctor turns around, facing Mark with a panicked expression which surprised Mark. "No." She said. "No, no. It can't be."

An alarm blared and the Doctor jumped to fix it.

"That means he could be a Time Lord." Jack said. "You might not be the last one!" "Jack, keep it level!" the Doctor barked.

"And just think," Jack kept the controls level but his grin didn't fade. "A female and a male Time

Lord. We all know where that's going to lead!"

"Shut it, Jack!" The Doctor yells, her stare turning icy as she glared at Jack; her mind was reeling. Is it possible? Will they forgive her for what she did? Who are they?

"But that's brilliant, isn't it?" Mark asked.

"Yes, it is." The Doctor said distractedly. "Course it is. Depends which one. Brilliant, fantastic, yeah. But they died, the Time Lords. All of them, they died."

"Not if he was human." Jack pointed out.

"There's so many I can think of. So many people it could be. So many disappeared!" She says, almost to herself before turning to Mark. "Does he know? Has he tried opening it?" She asks people.

"He _couldn't _see his watch." She told him. The Doctor turns around and closes her eyes at the past tense. Any minute she could have a revenge seeking Time Lord after her. "But he can now."

_Voices echoed in Yana's mind as he stared at the watch in his hand. Voices mixed with dark laughter and the ever present sound of drums._

_**The drums**. The watch seemed to say. **The drums, the drums. The never-ending drumbeat. Open me, you human fool. Open the light and summon me and receive my majesty. No one can stop you, not even her. The Doctor.**_

_"Chan-Yana, won't you please take some rest-tho?" Chantho asked worriedly._

_"13, 12, 11, 10" The countdown continued._

"If he escaped the Time War then it's the perfect place to hide." Jack said. "The end of the

universe."

"No one would look for him here." She agreed but then shook her head. "But it would have to be a reckless Time Lord to come here and I can only think of a few who would do that,"

"Think of what the Face of Boe said." Mark told them. "His dying words. He said..."

"You are not alone." The Doctor whispered and in her mind she saw what she had so easily missed before.

You Are Not Alone

Y - A - N - A

_Yana stood staring at the TARDIS, his back to Chantho._

_"Chan-Professor Yana-tho?" she asked._

_He turned back around and she quickly backed away. His once kind face was now twisted into a cruel mask._

The Doctor froze when she felt someone, more specifically a certain Time Lord. She could feel his anger and she could hear his laughter when he felt her presence before she was alone again. He had blocked himself from her in an attempt to hide whatever his current plan was.

"Lieutenant, have you achieved velocity?" the Doctor called. "Have you done it? Lieutenant! Have you done it?"

"Affirmative." the lieutenant called back. "We'll see you in Utopia."

"Good luck." The Doctor told him.

She hung up the phone and took off at a run, Mark and Jack faithfully following behind.

_Yana moved to a panel and quickly threw a lever, closing and locking the main door before the_

_Doctor could reach it._

_"Chan-but you've locked them in-tho." Chantho said, confused._

"Get it open!" the Doctor yelled pointing the sonic screwdriver at the door as Jack ran to the keypad. "Get it open!"

_"Not to worry, my dear." Yana said. "As one door closes, another must open."_

_He threw another switch and the power at the main gate went down, allowing the Futurekind to enter._

_"Chan-you must stop-tho!" Chantho yelled. Yana ignored her and continued working._

_"Chan-but you've lowered the defences! The Futurekind will get in-tho!" she told him._

Meanwhile, Jack quickly got the door open.

"Let's go." The Doctor said, moving through it without stopping to see whether the other two were following her or not.

_"Chan-Professor, I'm so sorry, but I must stop you. You're destroying all our work-tho." Yana turned around to find Chantho holding a gun on him._

_"Oh..." he said. "Now I can say I was provoked."_

_He slowly held out one of the live cables Jack had held earlier._

The Doctor, Mark, and Jack ran down a corridor and around a corner, only to be confronted by a pack of Futurekind.

"Go back!" The Doctor shouted and the three ran in the opposite direction, trying to escape the

Futurekind and to get to Yana, to the Time Lord that the Doctor wasn't glad to see.

_"Did you never think, in all those years standing beside me, to ask about that watch?" Yana demanded, still holding the sparking cable. "Never? Did you never think, not ever, that you could set me free?"_

_"Chan-I'm sorry-tho." Chantho whispered. "Chan-I'm so sorry-"_

_"And you with your 'chan' and your 'tho'." He cut her off. "Driving me insane."_

_"Chan-Professor, please-" she begged, but he cut her off again._

_"That is not my name!" he yelled. "The Professor... was an invention. So perfect a disguise that I_ _forgot who I am."_

_"Chan-who are you-tho?" Chantho whispered. He lowered his voice to a whisper._

_"I... am..._ _the Master."_

_He thrust the cable forward and Chantho convulsed before falling to the floor._


	4. Utopia: 4

The Futurekind chased the group through the corridors catching up with every step.

"This way!" Jack called, pulling them down another hall way.

_The Master knelt and reached out to pick up the canister containing the Doctor's hand. His wrinkled face was in a smirk as he looked at the lightly bubbling hand of hers and he chuckled softly._

The group arrived at the locked door to the lab; Jack wasted no time in trying to open the door. "Professor!" the Doctor called pounding on the window of the door. "Professor, let me in! Let me

in!" She turned back. "Jack, get the door open quickly!"

_The Master ignored her, walking to the navigation computer._

"Professor!" The Doctor yelled. "Professor, where are you? Professor! Professor, are you there? Please, I need to explain!"

_The Master removed the circuit board. "Utopia." He sneered._

"Doctor, they're coming!" Mark yelled to her as he looked behind him, seeing the quickly advancing figures of the Futurekind.

"Professor!" the Doctor yelled.

_The Master pulled some cables from the TARDIS._

"Open the door, please!" the Doctor yelled. "I'm begging you, Professor! Please! Listen to me!"

_Chantho was lying on the floor, hurt very badly. She slowly reached out her hand to the gun that_

_lay nearby._

"Open the door, please!" the Doctor screamed.

_The Master turned and Chantho fired. He groaned as the bullet hit him and he staggered back against the TARDIS, staring at her._

Jack whipped out his revolver and hit the keypad with the gun and the door opened. The Doctor rushed through and Mark and Jack followed after, wondering why she was so desperate to see him, even if he was a Time Lord.

The Doctor stopped, facing the wounded Master. The Master glanced at her, and for a second to the humans in the room they stared at each other but for the Time Lords it felt like days as they observed each other.

The Doctor moved forward hesitantly, but the Master retreated to the TARDIS, locking the door after him. The Doctor rushed to open it with her key, but the Master flipped a switch and the key wouldn't turn.

The Master headed to the console while the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver, pointing it at the TARDIS.

The Master pushed a button and stepped away, turning back to the door. "Deadlocked." He called.

"Let me in!" the Doctor yelled, pounding on the door.

"Let me in!" Jack quickly tried to stop the Futurekind from entering the lab whilst Mark rushed to Chantho who was lying on the floor.

"She's dead." Mark called as he kneeled next to Chantho and looked up at Jack, wondering what they should do as the Doctor continued knocking on the door of the TARDIS.

"I've broken the lock!" Jack called to Mark. "Give me a hand!" Mark quickly ran over and helped as much as he could.

"I'm begging you!" the Doctor called through the door. "Everything's changed! It's just the two of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in!"

"Killed by an insect!" the Master called back. "A girl! How inappropriate. I wouldn't have minded as much if it was a _g__i__rl _Time Lord! Wouldn't have been the first time, would it Doctor?" He chuckled as the Doctor scowled, glaring at the TARDIS as though she could glare through it at the the Master. "Still, if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can I. The Master... reborn."

With that, he exploded in light as he screamed.

The Doctor quickly backed away as they saw the light and heard his scream.

"Doctor!" Jack yelled as he and Mark held the door shut. "You'd better think of something!" "Ha, ha!" They all heard a new voice laughing from the TARDIS. "Ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha!" Suddenly, the voice was transmitted over a speaker.

"Doctor-ooh, new voice." The Master said. He lowered his voice. "Hello!" He raised his voice. "Hello!" His voice returned to normal. "Hello! Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me? I don't think so!"

"Hold on!" Mark called. "I know that voice!" An arm of one of the Futurekind reached through the door and Mark and Jack pushed back with more force.

"I'm asking you properly!" the Doctor called. "Just stop! Just think!"

"Use my name." the Master told him. The Doctor closed her eyes and debated whether or not to call him by his real name, not his chosen one but thought better of it, knowing that he would return the favor and that was something she didn't want Mark and Jack to hear.

"Master." She said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Tough!" the Master yelled.

The Doctor heard the engines begin to move and held out her sonic screwdriver, her face determined as she stared at the TARDIS.

"I can't hold out much longer, Doctor!" Jack yelled from the door. Inside the TARDIS, the console began to spark.

"Oh, no you don't!" the Master yelled.

He hit some buttons and the engines began to move again. "End of the universe." He called. "Have fun. Bye bye!"

"Doctor, stop him!" Mark yelled.

He and Jack continued to fight off the Futurekind as the Doctor watched the TARDIS

dematerialize, leaving them stranded at the end of the universe.


	5. The Sound of Drums: 1

The sound of Drums

The quiet and peaceful alley was disturbed by a portal opening and three people landing on the floor, each one gasping for breath and holding their head. The woman of the mismatched group was the first to recover, looking around their location but still gripping her head through her thick waves of hair.

"Oh my head!" Mark groaned, leaning back against the wall and falling to sit on the floor. Jack laughed his agreement and looked up at the Doctor who was now walking out of the alley and into the busy street, the two men following her. Jack grinned as he wondered how this may look to the innocent humans who happened to be walking past.

"This is London!" Mark noted as they walked along the main street, the Doctor still leading them quietly.

"London, Earth, 21st century by the looks of things," Jack says as he looks at his surroundings and recognizing that this was where he lived now; it was still unusual that he had settled on one planet and in only one time. "Very lucky," He grins and the Doctor slows down her previously long strides as a group of empty benches appeared.

"That wasn't luck. That was me," She says, almost a whisper, as she sits down. Jack sat on a bench opposite, fiddling with the Vortex Manipulator on his wrist with childlike curiosity, as Mark sat beside the Doctor. He was worried about how she was taking the whole situation and wondered how she knew this man who appeared to be mad and seemed familiar to him.

"The moral of the story, kids, is to get trapped at the end of the universe with an ex Time Agent and his Vortex Manipulator," Jack remarks with a smirk, finally looking up from his newly operating Time Travel device.

"And a Time Lord with a sonic screwdriver," The Doctor shoots back and looks around the street, taking note of the Saxon campaign posters and wondering how long it was since she had met Mark in linear Earth time; it couldn't be long because she had seen these when she first arrived at the Royal Hope hospital.

"But this Master bloke, he's got the TARDIS! He could be anywhere in time and space!" Mark says and the Doctor shakes her head.

"He's here. Trust me." She says and she was once again quiet.

"But who is he?" Mark carries on, unaware of the Doctor's mental shouts to the Master. _Listen to me. Stop! _"That voice at the end, that wasn't the Professor,"

"If this Master's a Time Lord then he can regenerate. Literally change his face, his voice, his body... Everything. A brand new person," His eyes flicker to the Doctor here, thinking of her previous face and her current one and how painful it must have been to change.

The Doctor, however, wasn't listening to the conversation around her and was looking around to find any signs of trouble which could be associated with the Master. The only thing she noticed was a man - homeless by the looks of it, poor thing - tapping a strange rhythm on the cup in his hands. The Doctor's eyes narrow slightly as she watches him repeat the tapping over and over.

"But if he's changed, how are we going to find him?" She turns back to her friends at Mark's question and brushes her hair back.

"I'll know. I always know." She says and taps her temple. She notices Jack's grin and corrects herself. "Time Lords always recognize each other, no matter their regeneration."

"But hold on." Mark notices the familiar Saxon posters and his mind starts to race as he thinks about the transformation between the Professor and the Master who he somehow seemed to know. "If he could be anyone… We missed the election." Mark stands up and looks around him at the Saxon posters which were practically screaming at him. "But it can't be…"

The Doctor stands slowly, Jack quickly following. The pair walk towards a giant screen showing the news and Mark eventually follows them, his face showing the confusion he was feeling.

"Mr Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters." A newsreader was saying and Mark recognizes Harold Saxon when the screen changes to show him walking downstairs, followed by an entourage of people and the blonde woman who Mark knew as Lucy. Mark looks between the blonde wife of Saxon and the brunette woman beside him, remembering the days when he looked at the human woman appreciatively. Back before he met the strange alien woman beside him.

"I said I knew that voice." Mark says, his voice slightly distant to the Doctor who was staring at the Master. The only other Time Lord in the universe. "When he spoke inside the TARDIS. I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him. We all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon." Jack's eyes widen at the revelation. The man who had been helpful to Torchwood and resisted his flirting was the Master? He guessed that the aversion to his flirting was a Time Lord trait.

"That's him. He's Prime Minister." The Doctor couldn't help the slight laugh in her head. She would have to comment on how he had hated anything political and yet he was the Prime Minister; of Earth of all places!

"Mr Saxon, this way, sir. Come on, kiss for the lady, sir." The Doctor raises an eyebrow as an off screen photographer shouted this.

"The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain." Saxon kisses the woman at his side and the Doctor raises both eyebrows. "The Master and his wife," And he always complained about the Doctor and her humans! She stood up straighter when the Master stepped forward and noticed that he looked _very _smug. That was never a good thing when the Master was concerned.

"This country has been sick. This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that, what this country really needs, right now…is a doctor." The Doctor stiffens as he smiles into the camera and hears his laughs through their link. What was he up to?

*Doctor Who*

"Finance report, sir."

"Military protocol, sir."

"EC directive, sir."

"Annual budget, sir."

"Recommendations, sir"

Harold Saxon walked down a hallway in number 10 Downing Street, Lucy faithfully by his side as always. Clerks were handing him files, not realizing that their Prime Minister was slyly gritting his teeth. How he hated humans. And politics. He stops outside the door to the Cabinet Room and turns around as Lucy speaks.

"I'm so proud of you, Harry." She says and leans up, kissing her husband softly as a pretty dark skinned girl walks up behind them. Tish Jones froze as she saw the Prime Minister kissing his wife, unsure of what to do.

"Bless." Saxon says as he and Lucy separate.

"Uh, sir…" Tish interrupts nervously as the two in front of her turned around to look at her. "If you don't mind me asking…I'm sorry, but it's all a bit new. What exactly do you want me to do?

"Oh yes, what was it, uh..?" Saxon questioned, pretending to be clueless of who she was when in reality, he knew perfectly who she was. Tish Jones. Older sister of Mark Jones, newest companion of the Doctor.

"Tish. Letitia Jones." Tish replies.

"Tish. Well then, Tish…You just stand there and look gorgeous." Tish was frozen in shock as Saxon walked into the Cabinet Rooms, observing the group of humans sitting around the table. "A glorious day. Downing Street rebuilt, the Cabinet in session. Let the work of government begin." On impulse, he throws the files in his hand into the air and the contents scatter as the group of people watch with emotionless faces. "Oh, go on. Crack a smile. It's funny, isn't it? Albert, funny? No? Little bit?" The most noticeable trait of this regeneration of the Master, was his child like personality.

"Very funny, sir, hm. But—but if we could get down to business, there is the matter of policy, of which we have very little—" Albert replied, looking at the Prime Minister seriously.

"No, no, no, no. Before we start all that, I just want to say…thank you. Thank you one and all, you ugly, fat-faced bunch of wet, snivelling traitors." Harold Saxon was gone. The Master was here. And the drums were louder than ever.

"Yes, quite. Very funny. But I thi—" The oblivious human said before he was interrupted by Saxon.

"No, no. That wasn't funny." The Prime Minister stands, his eyes roaming over the group in front of him. "Hm, you see, I'm not making myself very clear. Funny is like this." He gives an exaggerated smile but yet the humans still showed no emotions. "Not funny is like this." He gives an exaggerated frown but still, no emotions were shown by the humans. "And right now, I'm not like this…" Smile. "I'm like this…" Frown. "Because you are traitors. Oh yes, you are! As soon as you saw the vote swinging my way, you abandoned your parties and you jumped on the Saxon bandwagon. So…" Saxon sits at his chair again, looking excited. "This is your reward." He takes a gas mask from under the table and slips it on his face as everyone looks at one another.

"Excuse me, Prime Minister, do you mind my asking…what is that?" Albert asks, still oblivious to Saxon's intentions and when Saxon answered, it was muffled by the gas mask covering get his mouth.

"It's a gas mask."

"I beg your pardon?" Albert asks and Saxon lifts his mask.

"It's a gas mask." Was his answer before he puts the mask back on.

"Yes, but, uh, why are you wearing it?" Was the clueless question.

"Well, because of the gas." Was the muffled reply.

"I'm sorry?"

Saxon rolls his eyes but removes the mask once more. "Because of the gas." He replies before replacing the mask.

"What gas?"

"This gas." He says and leans back in his chair as the speakerphones in the centre of the table pop up and emit a white gas. The Ministers start coughing and choking, and try to leave the room. Unfortunately, all the doors were locked and the people were left to suffocate and die.

"You're insane!" Albert shouts with his last breath, pointing at the Master with decreasing energy as his body slumped onto the table, the life leaving him slowly. Saxon merely raises both thumbs as Albert collapses dead onto the table. Saxon sat, with the mask still on, and began tapping out a rhythm on the table with his fingers.


	6. The Sound of Drums: 2

Eventually, Jack and the Doctor found themselves in Mark's flat which was one obviously belonging to someone young. Mark was smiling, glad to be home; whilst he loved travelling with the Doctor he loved that feeling he got as he walked through the threshold into his small flat.

"What have you got?" The Doctor walked in and got to business straight away. "Computer, laptop, anything?" Whilst Mark was looking for his laptop, the Doctor noticed Jack trying to make a call on his mobile. "Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here!" She wondered when Jack, who was once a Time Agent and a con-man, had forgotten the basic rules of hiding.

"Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply…" Jack was hesitant to tell the Doctor about Torchwood; he had just found her again and didn't trust her not to leave him stranded in some place far away and long ago when she found the TARDIS. Torchwood was the reason she lost Ross after all.

"Here you go." Mark says, handing the Doctor his laptop who immediately opened it and was prepared to find out as much information as possible about the Master, or Harold Saxon, or whoever he was now. "Any good?" He asks before Jack takes the laptop from the Doctor, placing it on the desk and typing in the required information.

"I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages." Jack said, his eyes focused on the screen in front of him.

"That's so weird though. It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you." Mark was saying to the Doctor who was staring into space.

"We went flying all around the universe while he was here the whole time." She replied bitterly, wondering why the Master had hid himself rather than capturing her the moment he found her.

"You gonna tell us who he is?" Mark asks and the Doctor turns her head to look at him.

"He's a Time Lord." She answered simply, hoping that this would be the end of the questions but knew that she would have to answer them sooner or later. She had hoped to answer them later.

"What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master?" The Doctor refrained from rolling her eyes. He was complaining about 'the Master' but 'the Doctor' was fine?

"That's all you need to know." She turned to Jack, signaling that Mark should stop the questions; Mark leaned back with a sigh. "Come on, show me Harold Saxon."

As Jack shows the Doctor the website belonging to Harold Saxon, Mark checked his answering machine and frowned in confusion when he saw one from his sister.

"Mark, where are you? I've got this new job. You won't believe it. It's weird, they just phoned me up out of the blue. I'm working for—"

With a roll of his eyes, Mark turned off the message. He wasn't interested in hearing about Tish's new job when a mad Time Lord (and not the good kind of mad) was in charge of the UK. "Oh, like it matters."

_Tish hurries to follow the reporter, Vivien Rook, to try and stop her from going into the office, unsuccessfully trying to get her to turn away and keep her new job._

_"I'm sorry, but you're not allowed in—" She tries to say once again._

_"Harold Saxon: A Modern Churchill." The woman says, determined to get in the room in front of her. "It's the definitive think piece on the man himself." She hands a copy of the article in question to Tish. "Oh, come on, sweetheart, you must've read it!"_

_"Um, not really, sorry. I'm new." Tish says, looking around for help although no one seemed willing to help her._

_"Mr Saxon does like a pretty face." Vivien notes, looking at Tish. Before Tish could reply, she changes the subject. "But I'm here to see Mrs Saxon."_

_"You can't just go barging in!" Tish argues as Vivien enters into a sitting room where Lucy is sat, alone, with her heels off and massaging her feet. _

_"Mrs Saxon, Vivien Rook, Sunday Mirror." Vivien holds up her press card. "You've heard of me, I'm sure." She says._

_"Oh, can't I just have an hour to myself? It's been a hell of a day." Lucy says._

_"Oh, strike while the iron's hot, that's what I say, Lucy. I can call you Lucy, can't I?" She continues talking, not giving Lucy a chance to reply. "Now, everyone's talking about Harold Saxon, but I thought 'What about the wife?' All I need is twenty minutes."_

_"Oh, I think maybe we should wait." She says and casts a nervous look to a door behind her._

_"The headline's waiting to print: The Power Behind the Throne." Vivien says in a persuading tone of voice._

_"Really?" Lucy says in an intrigued voice, pleased that someone was noticing her; whilst she loved Harry dearly, she craved some of the public attention her husband was getting._

_"Britain's First Lady." Vivien replies with a smirk._

_"Gosh." Lucy says in a flattered tone._

_"Front page." Vivien says, knowing that she had Lucy where she wanted her._

_"Oh, well, I suppose…" Lucy says, fluffing her hair with a smile. "Oh, go on then. Twenty minutes." _

_"Excellent! Thank you! Oh, oh, what was it? Oh, Tish. Now you can leave us alone" Vivien hands Tish her coat and motions for the girl to leave._

_"No, but I'm supposed to sit in." Tish replies, looking at Lucy for some help. _

_"No, no. It's—it's only a profile piece. You know, hair and clothes and nonsense. There's a good girl. Out you go. That's it." She says and pushes Tish out the door, closing it behind her before turning to look at Lucy, her smiling face replaced by a grim expression. "Mrs Saxon, I have reason to believe…that you're in very great danger. All of us, in fact. Not just the country, but the whole world." Lucy scoffs but Vivien carries on. "I beg of you, hear me out."_

_"What are you talking about?" Lucy asks in a confused tone of voice which masked her terror. Did she know? And if she did, how?_

_"Your husband is not who he says he is. I'm sorry, but it's a lie. Everything's a lie."_

The Doctor watched the campaign commercials of _Harold Saxon _with growing confusion. The Master would go to any means to get what he wanted but she wasn't sure how he had done this. Something which irritated the Doctor immensely.

Jack stopped the commercial, going back to the main website and showing the Doctor, again, just how normal Harold Saxon was.

"Former Minister of Defence. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve." Jack paused and turned to the Doctor. "Nice work, by the way."

"Oh, thanks." She replied, coming out of her racing thoughts which were running through many ideas of what was happening, each more unlikely than the previous one. But then again, the Master would probably have found a way to do one, or maybe several, of the ideas.

"He goes back years." Mark says. "He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Look. Cambridge University, Rugby blue, won the Athletics thing, wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life."

_"All of it. The school days, his degree, even his mother and father. It's all invented." She holds up a photo which Lucy tried to avoid looking at. "Look, Harold Saxon never went to Cambridge. There was no Harold Saxon. The thing is, it's obvious. The forgery is screaming out and yet no one can see it. It's as if he's mesmerized the entire world."_

_"I think perhaps you should leave now." Lucy says firmly, knowing what would happen if she didn't._

_"18 months ago he became real." Vivien carried on, ignoring Lucy for the time being. "This is his first, honest-to-God appearance, just after the downfall of Harriet Jones. And at the exact same time, they launched the Archangel Network."_

_"Mrs Rook, now stop it." Lucy says._

_"Even now they say that the— the Cabinet has gone into seclusion. I mean, what does that mean, 'seclusion'?" Vivien asks, looking at Lucy with raised eyebrows, hoping that she would get the message; Harold Saxon was not real, he was dangerous._

_"How should I know?" She asks in return._

_"But I've got plenty of research on you. Yes, good family, Roedean, not especially bright but essentially harmless." She gets up and sits beside Lucy. "And that's why I'm asking you, Lucy. I'm begging you. If you have seen anything, heard anything, even the slightest thing that would give you cause to doubt him…"_

_"I think…" Lucy says and pauses. _

_"Yes?" Vivien leans forward, hope shining in her eyes._

_"There was a time when we first met, I wondered… But he was so good to my father. And he said…" Lucy looked distant as she spoke but her words were getting stronger as she came to a decision in her head._

_"What? Just tell me, sweetheart." Vivien says in a comforting voice._

_"The thing is… I made my choice." Lucy says finally._

_"I'm sorry?" Vivien asks confused._

_"For better or for worse. Isn't that right, Harry?" Lucy calls out, her eyes focused on Vivien. Leaning on the door behind the two women, Saxon looked up and smiled slightly at the woman's shocked and frightened look._

_"My faithful companion." Saxon says and Vivien stands to look at him._

_"Mr Saxon. Prime Minister, I-I-I was just having a little joke with poor little Lucy. I-I didn't mean—" Vivien stutters and starts to walk towards the door which led out of the room as Saxon started to walk to the centre of the room as though stalking a predator._

_"Oh, but you're absolutely right. Harold Saxon doesn't exist." He says and Lucy watches silently._

_"Then tell me…who are you?" She asks, her fear hidden in order to get the answers she wanted._

_"I'm the Master and these... are my friends." He holds out his hands and four small metal spheres appear and float around his body._

_"I'm sorry?" Vivien was slowly backing away from him._

_"Can't you hear it, Mrs Rook?" Saxon asks, the spheres still floating around him._

_"What do you mean?" Vivien asks and Lucy closes her eyes. If only the reporter hadn't come here._

_"The drumbeat. The drums coming closer and closer." He takes a step forward and nods his head slightly towards the spheres which were now still in the air; the spheres head towards Vivien at Saxon's signal, spikes now sticking out from their lower halves._

_"The lady doesn't like us." One says as they advance towards the terrified Vivien, the spikes spinning threateningly._

_"Silly lady."_

_"Dead lady."_

_Vivien screams and Lucy and Saxon exit the room and shut the door, deadening the screams. Saxon takes a breath and opens the door. The screams continue. He winces and closes the door but after a second he opens and closes the door again quickly, putting a fist to his mouth._

_"But she knew." Lucy sighs. "Harry, she knew everything. You promised. You said Archangel was 100%."_

_"Um, 99... 98?" Saxon replies._

_"But if she's asking questions, then who else? How much time have we got?" Lucy presses and Saxon holds out his arms, pulling Lucy into a hug._

_"Tomorrow morning, I promise. That's when everything ends." He says over her head, looking into the distance and hearing nothing but the nearing drum beat he had been plagued with since he was eight years old._

Jack was staring intently into one of the mugs of tea he was making, his head spinning. Harold Saxon, a man he had met a couple of times in the last year, was actually a Time Lord and somehow knew the Doctor; he also seemed important to her if her earlier shouts were anything to go by.

"But he's got a TARDIS." He calls to where the Doctor was sat, working on the laptop on Marks desk with her glasses on her face. "Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades.

"No." She said simply her eyes not leaving the screen in front of her.

"Why not? Worked for me." Jack replied.

"When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently." Her mind flashed back to when she had broken one of the TARDIS navigation circuits and knew that it would take some work in order to get it back to how it was before. "He can only travel between the year 100 trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now."

"Yeah, but a little leeway?" Jack says, handing the Doctor a mug as she leans back in the chair she was sat on.

"Well…18 months, tops. The most he could have been here is 18 months. So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of…hypnotic but this is on a massive scale." She says, staring at the wall and trying to figure out, once again, how he was doing this on such a massive scale.

"I was gonna vote for him." Mark suddenly pipes up and the Doctor turns her head to look at him.

"Really?" She asks and Mark nods hesitantly.

"Well, it was before I even met you. And I liked him." He replied defensively.

"Me too." Jack agrees.

"_You _like anything with a postcode," The Doctor says to Jack who gives a grin before the Doctor turns to Mark. "Why do you say that? What was his policy? What did he stand for?"

"I dunno." The Doctor leans forward as Mark started to speak in a dreamy voice, obviously influenced by whatever the Master was doing in order to get the entire population of the UK to like him. "He always sounded…good." His fingers start to tap a rhythm on his hand and the Doctor stares with narrowed eyes. There it was again. "Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about…I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice."

"What's that?" The Doctor asks, inclined her head to Mark's fingers which were still tapping that same beat.

"What?" Mark asks in a startled tone and the tapping stopped as he looked at the Doctor.

"That! That tapping, that rhythm! What are you doing?" She questions and Mark blinks.

"I dunno. It's nothing. It's j— I dunno!" He cried. The Doctor opens her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the laptop playing a tune; she turns her head and stands up quickly, rushing over to the television when she sees the announcement on the laptop screen, _SAXON BROADCAST ON ALL CHANNELS. _

"Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom." She says as the Master appears on screen, sitting in front of an ornate fireplace in a room that the Doctor recognized as the Cabinet Room.

"Britain, Britain, Britain." He says with a smug smile and the Doctor knew that this would somehow affect them. "What extraordinary times we've had. Just a few years ago, this world was so small. And then they came, out of the unknown, falling from the skies."

The Doctor recognized the ship that the Slitheen had sent as a distraction.

"You've seen it happen—Big Ben destroyed, a spaceship over London."

The Doctor inhaled deeply when she saw the 'ghosts' which were actually Cybermen and we're the reason she had lost Ross.

"All those ghosts and metal men."

The Doctor leaned back slightly as she saw the Racnoss' ship and wondered just how often the Master had been watching her over that past eighteen months.

"The Christmas star that came to kill. Time and time again the government told you nothing. Well not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here today is to tell you this—citizens of Great Britain…I have been contacted. A message, for humanity, from beyond the stars." He nods to someone off camera and a video starts to play of a sphere, obviously alien to the humans, delivering the message.

"People of the Earth, we come in peace. We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship." The sphere says in a female voice.

"Ooh, sweet." Saxon says as he once again appears on the screen. "And this species has identified itself. They're called the Toclafane."

"What?" The Doctor asks although she did give a little laugh, causing Jack and Marknto stare at her confused.

"And tomorrow morning they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. And every…oh, I don't know…medical student?"

The Doctor whips around to look at Mark, who stared back blankly, before turning the TV around to find a bomb ready to go off. She grabs the laptop as the three rush out into the street just as the front window of Mark flat explodes.


	7. The Sound of Drums: 3

"All right?" The Doctor asks, looking at Jack and Mark.

"Fine, yeah, fine." Jack replies at once.

"Mark?" The Doctor asks when he didn't reply and she turned around to find Mark using his mobile phone. "What are you doing?"

"He knows about me. What about my family?" He says, his eyes focused on his phone and his hands slightly shaking.

"Don't tell them anything!" The Doctor warns her companion.

"I'll do what I like!" Mark snaps before his voice softens but still keeping that same panicked tone. "Mum? Oh my God, you're there."

"Course I'm here, sweetheart." Francisco Jones says calmly, unaffected by her son's panic filled voice. "You all right?" She asks casually.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Mum, has there been anyone asking about me?" Mark asks and Francine turns to look at a young woman with blonde hair who was listening to the conversation Francine was having with her son; the same woman who had been listening to every conversation in hopes of finding that dangerous woman, the Doctor.

"Mark, I think perhaps you should come 'round." Francine says instead

"I can't! Not now!" Mark almost shouts, his panic turning into annoyance.

"No, but it's your father. We've been talking and we thought we might give it another go." She says and Mark freezes, drawing the attention of Jack and the Doctor who had been talking just before.

"Don't be so daft! Since when?" He asks.

"Just come 'round. Come to the house, we can celebrate." Francine says in a soft voice, hoping that her son would get over his stubborn streak just this once.

"You said you'd never get back with him in a million years." Mark argues and Francine sighs.

"Ask him yourself." Was all she said before she hands the phone from her hand to Clive's, Mark's father.

"Mark, it's me." Clive says to his oldest son, hoping his voice sounded normal.

"Dad? What are you doing there?" Mark was beyond confused now and was wondering if Saxon himself was there because his parents were insistent that he went to his mum's house.

"Like your mother said, come 'round. We can explain everything." Clive says.

"Dad? Just say yes or now. Is there someone else there?" Mark asks, hoping that he would say no but knew that something was wrong.

Clive paused before yelling "Yes! Just run!" and gets up and heads for the door.

"Clive!" Francine yells, angry that her ex husband may have just cost their son his life. She had heard stories about that Doctor woman of Mark's and knew that her son should not be anywhere near her.

"Listen to me!" Clive continues to yell as he was grabbed by two men, who tried to take the phone from the still yelling Clive. "Just run! I don't know who they are!"

"We're trying to help him! Mark, don't listen to him!" Francine shouts over Clive, hoping her voice carried to her son.

"Dad! What's going on? Dad?" Mark calls into the phone but his shouts were unheard as Francine and Clive yelled at each other as Clive was taken out of the house.

"I gotta help them!" Mark says and runs this car. Jack and the Doctor exchange looks, knowing what was going on and were, to a certain extent, unwilling to help the Jones family.

"That's exactly what they want! It's a trap!"The Doctor unsuccessfully tries to explain to the determined Mark.

"I don't care!" He shouts at the Doctor who sighs but gets into the front passenger seat as Jack jumped in the back, both hoping they didn't get caught.

_Clive fought the men who were dragging him into the back of a waiting van. _

_"Get off!" He yelled at the men before noticing the neighbour's who were watching, wondering what had happened. "It's your fault, all of you! You voted Saxon! You did this!"_

_Francine watched from the front door, shaking her head slightly and wondering how how their lives had come to this._

"Corner!" The Doctor yelled as Mark drive recklessly down a road. He turns the corner tightly, the three of the car squealing.

_"Mr Saxon, we have Condition Red on the Jones plan" The blonde woman who had been watching Francine's conversations with Mark was saying. "We're taking them in." She turned to look at Francine without showing any emotion. "All of them." She says and a man grabs Francine's arm, pulling her towards the van._

_"But I was helping you!" She shouted, looking at the woman in disgust._

Mark waited for the call to connect, sighing when it continued to ring, and no one answered.

"C'mon, Tish. Pick up."

_Tish was walking down the stairs of number 10 Downing Street as she finally picked up Mark's call with an irritated sigh._

_"Mark, I can't talk right now. We just made first contact. Did you see-" She stopped speaking as two men took her by the arms and carried her backwards up the stairs. "What are you doing?" She shouts, dropping her phone in her attempts to get free. "Get off! Linda, tell them!" _

Mark, Jack and the Doctor hear Tish's screams.

"What's happening? Tish!" He glances at the Doctor who was staring at the phone. "It's your fault! It's all your fault!" The Doctor says nothing to deny the accusation.

"I was helping you! Get off me!" Francine was shouting as Mark drives around the corner; he stops the car and Francine notices him. "Mark, get out of here! Get out!" She screams and the woman in charge noticed him.

"Target identified." She said and the police take position.

"Mark, reverse." The Doctor says to Mark who was staring at his family sadly.

"Take aim…" The woman said and the police aim their weapons at the car.

"Get out, now!" The Doctor says, urgency now seeping into her tone as she stared at the weapons that were being pointed at her and her friends. Mark reverses, trying to get away as quickly as possible as the woman shouted "Fire!" and the police open fire.

"Move it!" Jack shouts as Mark quickly presses his foot down on the accelerator. As they took off down the road, bullets shatter the rear window causing all three to duck down in fear of getting shot.

"Take them away." The woman shouts, pointing at Francine and Clive who are locked away in the van. Francine watches her son escape with a heavy heart, praying that he will stay safe.

*Doctor Who*

"The only place we can go…planet Earth. Great." Mark says sarcastically but still obviously upset.

"Careful!" The Doctor says as the car swerved as Mark turns to look at the Doctor angrily.

"Now, Mark, listen to me. Do as I say. We've gotta ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!" Jack says and Mark does as he's told, pulling over. They all get out of the car, quickly walking away in hopes of not being noticed.

*Doctor Who*

"Mark, come on!" The Doctor calls to Mark who was walking behind her and Jack.

"Leo!" Mark calls into his mobile, his voice filled with relief. "Oh, thank God! Leo, you gotta listen to me. Where are you?" He asks his brother who was walking with his girlfriend and daughter.

"I'm in Brighton. We came down with Boxer. Did you see that Saxon thing on telly?" Leo asks, oblivious to how Mark was feeling.

"Leo, just listen to me. Don't go home, I'm telling you. Don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish. You've gotta hide." Mark tries to persuade, hoping that he would listen just this once.

"Shut up." He replied unbelieving.

"On my life. You've gotta trust me. Go to Boxer's. Stay with him. Don't tell anyone! Just hide!" Mark says.

"Ooh, a nice little game of hide-and-seek." Mark's eyes widen as the voice of Saxon replied rather than the one of his brother. "I love that. But I'll find you, Mark Jones. Been a long time since we saw each other. Must be, what, one hundred trillion years?"

"Let them go, Saxon." He shouts and the Doctor turns sharply on her heel to face Mark. "Do you hear me? Let them go!" Saxon's only reaction was to smile. The Doctor walks up to Mark and gently takes the phone fro his hands and putting it to her ear.

"I'm here." Was all she said and the smile fell from Saxon's face as he pulls out a phone, putting it to his ear and saying only one word.

"Doctor." He says seriously, a contrast from his usually childish attitude.

"Master." The Doctor says in return and the Master smiles slightly.

"I like it when you use my name." He says in a completely serious tone of voice and the Doctor laughs slightly.

"You always did," She says and the Master smirks. "But you chose it. Psychiatrist's field day."

"As you chose yours. The woman who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?" He says and the Doctor turns away from Mark and Jack, choosing to walk away so they didn't hear one half of the conversation which would be still confusing if they heard both ends.

"So… Prime Minister." The Doctor comments.

"I know." The Master grins. "It's good, isn't it?"

"I'm not so sure. Who are those creatures? 'Cause there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made-up name like the Bogeyman." The Doctor asks.

"Do you remember all those fairy tales about the Toclafane when we were kids? I can remember how you used to worry that they were real when we were young." He grins as he could almost feel the Doctor's scowl down the phone. "Back home. Where is it, Doctor?" He asks.

"Gone." The Doctor whispers and the Master leans forward in the chair he had been sat in.

"How can Gallifrey be gone?" He hisses and the Doctor looks down.

"It burnt." She says firmly and a quiet moment passed between them.

"And the Time Lords?" He asks.

"Dead. And the Daleks… more or less. What happened to you?"

"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War. I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me because…I was so scared."

"I know." She replies in a comforting voice but wondered why he was telling her; they hadn't exactly been best friends in a few hundred years.

"All of them?" The Master asks, his voice becoming suddenly more lively. "But not you, which must mean…"

"I was the only one who could end it. And I tried. I did. I tried everything." She wondered why she felt she had to explain herself to him, he would've done the same in her position without any hesitation or guilt.

"What did it feel like, though? Two almighty civilizations burning. Oh, tell me, how did it feel?" He asks with a smirk.

"Stop it!" She warns, not raising get her voice but he got the message that he should stop. Didn't mean he would though.

"You must have been like God." He continued, smirk still in place.

"I've been alone ever since. But not anymore. Don't you see, all we've got is each other."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" He asks with a laugh.

"Well, it's always been me doing the asking, hasn't it?" The Master scowled at the reminder of their past. "You could stop this right now. We could leave this planet. We could fight across the constellations if that's what you want. But not on Earth."

"Too late." He says softly, sitting down once again and looking through the window as though he could see the Doctor.

"Why do you say that?" The Doctor questions.

"The drumming." He replies and drums his fingers on the table. "I thought it would stop but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming."

"I could help you. Please, let me help." She pleads and the Master stops, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"There are some things even _you _can't help me with." He changes the subject before the Doctor could figure out what he had said. "It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen." He taps that beat again against the table. "Here come the drums. Here come the drums." He says. The Doctor turns around as a man leaning on a building by the Doctor begins tapping his hands against his legs.

"What have you done?" The Doctor asks, looking at the man who was still tapping the beat. "Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!" The Master gives no reply as looks at his laptop.

"Ooh, look. You're on TV." He says, almost happily.

"Stop it! Answer me!" She says, not happy that he was avoiding telling her what she wanted to know.

"No, really. You're on telly!" He says and clicks on BBC newscast. "You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are! Ha!" He laughs.

The Doctor sees a TV in a shop window and walks towards it, looking at the screen intently.

"…They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous." The newsreader was saying into the camera and the Doctor saw pictures of her, Mark and Jack which had been taken a while ago.

"You're public enemies number one, two and three. Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas so he won't be getting any help from them." He switches on CCTV outside the shop in time to see Mark and Jack join the Doctor. "Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?" He grins as the Doctor turns to the right immediately, straight into the camera.

"He can see us." She says and uses the sonic screwdriver on the camera, blocking the Master from seeing any more.

"Ooh, you public menace. And just as I was enjoying the view! You really should've wore skirts more often." He says and grins, knowing the Doctor wouldn't have appreciated his comment. "Better start running, if you can in that pretty little skirt. Go on. Run!" He says and the Doctor turns to her friends with wide eyes.

"He's got control of everything." She breathed and Mark and Jack look around, not knowing what to do.

"What do we do?" Mark asks.

"We've got nowhere to go." Jack says and the Doctor nods in agreement.

"Doctor, what do we do?" Mark asks again and the Doctor shakes her head slightly.

"Run for your life, Doctor!" The Master shouts, his voice full of glee.

"We run." The Doctor says and they all start running as fast as they possibly could, trying to find somewhere safe.

"I said, run!" The Master shouts into the phone, knowing exactly what the Doctor was doing. What she did best; running.

*Doctor Who*

_"Tomorrow morning, Britain will be welcoming an extraterrestrial species…"_

_"The President is said to be furious that Great Britain has taken unilateral action."_

The Chinese news comes on next before the channel changes to Teletubbies. Saxon watches the children's programmers intently on his laptop as one of the Toclafane appear.

"Have you seen these things?" He asks, not turning to look at the sphere. "This planet's amazing. Television in their stomach. Now that is evolution. I can see why the Doctor loves this planet so much," He says.

"Is the machine ready?" The sphere asks in a female voice.

"Tomorrow morning. It reaches critical at 8:02 precisely." He replies.

"We have to escape. Because it's coming, sir. The darkness, the never-ending darkness. The terrible, terrible cold. We have to run and run and run!" The sphere says.

"8:00 tomorrow morning. Tell your people. The world is waiting." Saxon says before the Toclafane disappears; he turns to look out through the window blinds, ignoring the drums as much as he could and searching for the Doctor's consciousness.

He frowned when he couldn't find her.


	8. The Sound of Drums: 4

Mark looks from side to side as he walks into a disused warehouse, a carrier bag of take away food in his hand. Inside the warehouse, the Doctor is still at the laptop while Jack uses his manipulator; both look up as Mark walks in, his face still grim from the capture of his family.

"How was it?" Jack asks.

"I don't think anyone saw me. Anything new?" Mark replied.

"I've got this tuned into the government wavelength so we can follow what Saxon's doing." Jack says, waving the Manipulator on his arm.

"Yeah, I meant about my family." Mark corrects.

"It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning. Tell you what, though, no mention of Leo." The Doctor says, looking up from the laptop to look at her companion.

"He's not as daft as he looks." He says with a smile which quickly fell. "I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?" He asks, handing chips from the bag of our the Doctor and Jack.

"Nice chips." Jack says, sitting down near the Doctor who pushes the laptop away for the time being and unwrapped the chips given to her.

"Actually, they're not bad." She says and pops one into her mouth. Mark sits opposite Jack and who turns to look at her, both of the exchanging a look before Mark nods in the Doctor's direction who was obliviously eating her chips and watching the laptop for any news concerning Saxon.

"So, Doctor, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?" Jack asked the Doctor who sighed, knowing this would eventually come.

"And what is he to you? Like a colleague…" Mark asks.

"A friend, at first." The Doctor answers and Mark raises an eyebrow.

"At first?" Jack asks, raising his eyebrows suggestively and the Doctor scowls but stays silent. Jacks eyes widen and he lets out a shocked laugh as he looked at the Time Lord in front of him who he was sure would be blushing if she wasn't.. Well, the Doctor.

"I thought you were gonna say he was your secret brother or something." Mark says after a few seconds, wondering how something concerning the Doctor could be so simple; the Doctor and Jack stare at him.

"You've been watching too much TV." The Doctor finally says, causing Mark to chuckle half-heartedly.

"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect." Jack says.

"Well, perfect to look at, maybe. And it was, it was beautiful." The Doctor leans back as memories of Gallifrey, her home, overtook her. "They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords… The oldest and most mighty race in the universe…looking down on the galaxies below…sworn never to interfere…only to watch… Children of Gallifrey, were taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child… that's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation, it's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old…staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired…some would run away…and some would go mad."

"What about you?" Mark asks as the Doctor finally falls silent.

"Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped." She says as though it were obvious, placing another chip in her mouth. All three looked up though at the sudden noise of Jack's manipulator who immediately jumped into action, pressing the necessary buttons to find the source of the beeping.

"Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognize it." He says.

"Patch it through to the laptop." The Doctor says, grabbing the laptop and typing whilst Jack stared uneasily at the Doctor.

"Um, since we're telling stories, um, there's something I haven't told you." He says, putting the mysterious message onto the laptop through his manipulator and preparing himself for the Doctor's reaction as the Torchwood logo appears onscreen.

"You work for Torchwood." It wasn't a question but Jack nodded, not looking her in the eye; he knew that her eyes would betray the calm atmosphere she gave off.

"I swear to you, it's different. It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now." Jack tries to justify himself, facing the Doctor now who was staring angrily down at him through her black framed glasses from where she sat.

"Everything Torchwood did and you're part of it?" She asks, wondering how he could betray her - how he could betray _Ross! - _like that.

"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it. And when I did that, I did it for you, in your honour." The Doctor only glares at him before opening the file which was a video of a woman none of them recognized.

"If I haven't returned to my desk by 2200 hours, this file will be emailed to Torchwood. Which means, if you're watching this, then I'm… Anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network." The screen changes from the woman talking to show a graphic of a spinning Earth with satellites.

"What's the Archangel Network?" The Doctor asks and Mark looks at her, wondering how she didn't know something as popular as Archangel.

"I've got Archangel." He answers, pulling out his mobile. "Everyone's got it."

"It's the mobile phone network." Jack says, hoping he wouldn't receive a Doctor glare for speaking. When he didn't, he carried on . "'Cause, look, it's gone worldwide. They've got 15 satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."

The Doctor reached into her jacket and pulls out her screwdriver, pointing it at Mark's phone for several seconds as Jack and Mark watched.

"It's in the phones!" She finally shouts, pulling the phone to her eyes as though she could see into it. "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist! Wait, wait, wait. Hold on." She taps the phone against the table - whilst Mark refrained himself from jumping up to save his precious phone - and it begins to beep in the same rhythm that had surrounded them earlier. "There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere. Ticking away in the subconscious." She says, looking down at the phone with mild awe.

"What is it, mind control?" Mark asks looking a little afraid.

"No, no, no, no. Subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code… Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me. 'Cause I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out." She says, feeling like they were closer to stopping him than they had only ten minutes before.

"Any way you can stop it?" Jack asks and the Doctor leans back, running her hand through her hair.

"Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it." The Doctor replies.

"And we can fight back." Mark says in a cheerful voice, causing the Doctor to grin at him.

"Oh, yes!" She says and starts taking apart Mark's mobile and laptop before asking Martha and Jack for their TARDIS keys and taking out her own. She then uses her sonic screwdriver to weld circuitry from the phone and computer to the keys before tying them to a string so they could be worn as a necklace.

"Three TARDIS keys, three pieces of the TARDIS with low-level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in." Mark and Jack exchanged an amused look at that; the TARDIS blended in as much as the Doctor did. "Well, sort of, but… Now! The Archangel Network's got a second low-level signal. Weld the key to the network and… Mark," She looks over at Mark and takes a step back. "look at me. You can see me, yes?"

"Yep!" Mark says, not knowing where this was going.

"What about now?" She asks, slipping the key over her neck. As soon as the key was around her, Mark's vision shifts to the left and he blinks, trying to focus his eyes on where he _knew _the Doctor was but couldn't look at. Jack chuckles as he watches him.

"No, I'm here. Look at me." She says with an amused smile as Mark's eyes once again moved away from her.

"It's like…I know you're there but I don't want to know." Mark says, still trying to look at her.

"And back again." She announces, taking the key from around her neck. "See? It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed." She says cheerfully, taking a few steps forward before freezing and turning around to face Mark. "Oh, I know what it's like. It's like—it's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like. Come on!" She walks away and Mark and Jack just stay there, watching her before Mark looks over at Jack who gave him a sympathetic smile.

"You too, huh?" He asks and Mark nods slightly before following the Doctor out, Jack following quickly.

*Doctor Who*

The Doctor, Mark and Jack were walking out onto the streets, each of them looking around as though expecting Saxon to jump out on them.

"Don't run. Don't shout. Just keep your voice down. Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows." The Doctor says, clutching the key tightly in her hand and walking between Mark and Jack.

"Like ghosts." Jack supplies helpfully and the Doctor nods, allowing her eyes to focus on Jack and give him a small smile of appreciation

"Yeah, that's what we are. Ghosts." She says and all three place a key around their necks before heading into the city.

*Doctor Who*

_"And as the eyes of the world turn towards Great Britain, sources indicate that Air Force One has landed on British soil tonight."_

Saxon and Lucy arrive, arm in arm, with an escort to greet the American President on the tarmac. Saxon looked positively gleeful as he looked over at the older man who was scowling deeply.

"Mr President, sir!" Saxon says with a salute and President Winters glares at the man in front of him. How he got elected Prime Minister of Great Britain, he'll never know!

"Mr Saxon. The British Army will stand down. From now on, UNIT has control of this operation." He says, not bothering with a proper greeting, instead choosing to show Saxon that he was in charge.

"You make it sound like an invasion." Saxon says amused, though only Lucy picked up on this.

"First contact policy was decided by the Security Council in 1968. And you've just gone and ignored it." President Winters says and Saxon just sighs.

"Well, you know what it's like. New job, all that paperwork. I think it's down the back of the settee. I did have a quick look. I found a pen, a sweet, a bus ticket and uh…have you met the wife?" He says pulling Lucy forward slightly and as he did he caught sight of three figures stood on the tarmac in the distance. Well, this just got more fun, he thought with a grin as he turned to face President Winters who had ignored Lucy.

"Mr Saxon, I'm not sure what your game is but there are provisions at the United Nations to have you removed from office unless you are very, very careful. Is that understood?" Saxon mimes zipping his lips and President Winter's fists clenched. "Are you taking this seriously?" He asks and Saxon nods. "To business. We've accessed your files on these…Toclafane. First contact cannot take place on any sovereign soil. For that purpose, the aircraft carrier Valiant is en route. The rendezvous will take place there at 8:00 am." The President glared as Saxon tries to talk through zipped lips. "You're trying my patience, sir." He says and Saxon slowly makes a shownof unzipping his lips.

"So America is completely in charge?" He asks, wanting to grin at how stupid this ape was.

"Since Britain elected an ass, yes. I'll see you onboard the Valiant." He says, turning on his heel to leave before Saxon pipes up.

"It still will be televised, though, won't it? Because I promised, and the whole world is watching." He says and President Winters stops to think.

"Since it's too late to pull out, the world will be watching. Me." He finally says, quickly walking away to a car that was waiting.

"The last President of America." Saxon says to Lucy, watching the President walk away. "We have a private plane ready and waiting. We should reach the Valiant within the hour." He says before motioning for Lucy to go first. "My darling." He says with an almost mocking smile on his face, knowing that the Doctor, her human companion and the freak were watching.

Saxon turns back to watch President Winters drive away, turning back and looking at the area with the Doctor, Mark and Jack are standing. He debates whether or not to wave when a siren announces the arrival of a police van. The doors open and the Jones family are pulled out. The Doctor, Mark and Jack watch as Saxon runs up to them, greeting from them as though they were the best of friends.

"Oh my God." Mark breathes, watching as Saxon taunts her family who were being treated as though they were criminals, something Mark wished he could forget.

"Don't move." The Doctor warns him.

"But…" Mark tries to protest but was stopped by a single word from the Doctor.

"Don't." Jack watched, wondering what it would take for Mark's faith in the Doctor to be broken, because he had a feeling that the Master would do so. The three watched as the Jones family was transferred to a Land Rover.

"I'm gonna kill him." Mark announces and Jack nods in agreement whilst the Doctor stood there in silence.

"Say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack says and the Doctor turns her head quickly.

"Now that sounds like Torchwood." She hisses angrily and Jack matches her stare.

"Still a good plan." He shrugs, turning back to look at the proceedings before him.

"He's a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility." The Doctor says, her eyes following Saxon. "I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him." She says and Jack scoffs.

"I can think of many ways you can save him," He says with a smirk before looking down at his manipulator, almost laughing at the Doctor's expression which was torn between shock and outrage. "Aircraft carrier Valiant. It's a UNIT ship at 28.2N and 10.02E." Jack announces, changing the subject from the Doctor and her mission to _save _the Master.

"How do we get onboard?" Mark asks, willing to change the subject from the man who had captured her parents and was a possible competitor for the Doctor's hearts.

"Does that thing work as a teleport?" The Doctor asks Jack.

"Since you revamped it, yeah. Coordinates set." He says and the Doctor makes sure that they were all touching the manipulator before activating it. They all arrive in an engine room aboard the Valiant and Mark and Jack groan.

"Oh, that thing is rough." Mark says, clutching his head.

"I've has worse nights." Jack says, cracking his neck. "Welcome to the Valiant."

"It's dawn." Mark says, walking towards a porthole on the wall. "Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?" He asks, looking down at the Earth below them.

"A ship for the 21st century. Protecting the skies of planet Earth." Jack says as they both look out of the porthole.

*Doctor Who*

Saxon and Lucy walk into the bridge of the Valiant which also acted as a conference room. They look around, noticing the secret service agents, various military personnel as well as camera crews preparing for the event.

"I want the whole thing branded in my sort of honest, not the United Nations'. Got that?" They both hear President Winters say and Saxon walked up to him, Lucy faithfully following.

"Anything I can do? I could make tea or isn't that American enough? I don't know, I could make grits. What are grits, anyway?" He says and President Winters grits his teeth in annoyance.

"If you could just sit." He says and Saxon turns around, making a face at Lucy.

"Misery guts. What do you think? It's good, isn't it?" He asks as he pulls out a chair for Lucy who sits, looking around the ship.

"It's beautiful." She says and Saxon smirks.

"Some of my best work." He says and leans closer to whisper. "Ministry of Defence. I helped design this place." He sits beside her with a smug smile. "Every detail."

*Doctor Who*

The Doctor, Mark and Jack run through the maintenance corridors; the Doctor stops and looks down another corridor when she hears one of the most glorious things sounds in the back of her head.

"We've no time for sightseeing!" Jack shouts back at her, pulling Mark to a stop and looking back at the Doctor.

"No, no. Wait. Shh, shh, shh. Can't you hear it?" She asks.

"Hear what?" Jack asks after he and Mark exchange a look, wondering if the Time Lord had finally lost her mind altogether.

"Doctor, my family's on board." Mark says, fully prepared to start running again.

"Brilliant! This way!" The Doctor says with a smile, walking down the corridor and running through some more, Jack and Mark following behind her. The Doctor opens a set of doors to reveal the TARDIS and she grins, looking at her wonderful blue box.

"Oh, at last!" She says, walking up to the TARDIS.

"Oh, yes!" Mark laughs.

"What's it doing on the Valiant?" Jack asks but was ignored as the Doctor opens the door and all three walk in to see a very different interior which was bathed in red.

"What the hell's he done?" Jack asks in horror, walking closer to the console.

"Don't touch it." The Doctor warns Jack in a grave voice.

"I'm not going to." Jack says.

"What's he done though? Sounds like it's… sick." Mark says and looks at the console which had been stripped of certain parts and caged off.

"It can't be. No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be." The Doctor says, looking at the console closely but not touching it.

"Doctor, what is it?" Mark asks, coming up behind the Doctor.

"He's cannibalised the TARDIS." The Doctor says in a horrified voice, staring up at the roof of the console room with wide eyes and her jaw open in shock.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jack asks, catching on quickly as to what was wrong.

"It's a paradox machine."


	9. The Sound of Drums: 5

"Two minutes, everyone!" President Winters calls, climbing used the steps to face everyone. "According to the treaty, all armed personnel are requested to leave the flight deck immediately. Thank you."

Saxon and Lucy look around, watching everything like it was simply entertainment.

"Jelly baby?" Saxon asks Lucy, holding a bag of sweets to her and smirking as she took one, reminded of the Doctor's confusing obsession with the sweets in her fourth regeneration.

"Broadcasting at 7:58 with the arrival timed at 0800 precisely. And, uh, good luck to all of us." President Winters says.

*Doctor Who*

"As soon as this hits red, it activates." The Doctor says, pointing towards part of the TARDIS which was inching towards the red section slowly. "At this speed, it'll trigger..." She grabs Jack's wrist, looking at his watch. "at two minutes past 8:00."

"First contact is at 8:00 and then two minutes later…" Jack trails off and the Doctor nods.

"What's it for? What's a paradox machine do?" Mark asks.

"More importantly, can you stop it?" Jack asks, knowing that this was trouble and the Doctor's horrified expression wasn't comforting.

"Not until I know what it's doing. Touch the wrong bit and blow up the solar system." The Doctor replies, her hand running through her hair to stop herself from trying to save her TARDIS.

"Then we've got to get to the Master." Mark says.

"Yeah. How do we stop him?" Jack asks.

"Oh, I've got a way." The Doctor replies and grins at the looks she received from Jack and Mark. "Sorry, didn't I tell you?"

*Doctor Who*

_"And in just 30 seconds' time, we'll be going live for first contact. It has been announced that Harold Saxon has invited President Winters to take the address."_

_"It's 3:00 in the morning on the eastern seaboard and President Winters has been chosen to lead the world into a new age."_

"My fellow Americans, patriots, people of the world…" President Winters says into the camera. "I stand before you today as ambassador for humanity, a role I will undertake with utmost solemnity. Perhaps our Toclafane cousins can offer us much, but that is important is not that we gain material benefits, but that we learn to see ourselves anew." The Doctor, Mark and Jack enter the room, unnoticed by everyone but Saxon who stopped smiling. "For as long as man has looked to the stars, he has wondered what mysteries they hold. Now we know we are not alone…"

"This plan, you gonna tell us?" Jack whispers to the Doctor.

"If I can get this" She holds up the key which was hiding from her. "around the Master's neck…cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real. It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me…you've got a key."

"Yes, ma'am." He says, saluting slightly and smirking as the Doctor hits him on the arm, her eyes focused on Saxon.

"I'll get him." Mark promises.

"And I ask you now, I ask of the human race, to join with me in welcoming our friends. I give you the Toclafane." President Winters announces as three spheres appear around him. He turns to face the three Toclafane and Saxon smirks. "My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President-Elect of the United States of America and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon."

"You're not the Master." One of the metal spheres say in a male voice.

"We like the Mr Master." Another says in a female voice.

"We don't like you." The final one says.

"I… can be Master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you if that is God's will." The President says in a confused voice

"Man is stupid."

"Master is our friend."

"Where's my Master, pretty please?"

"Oh, all right then. It's me." Saxon says, surprising everyone as he stands with a large grin on his face. "Ta-da! Sorry. Sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy!" He laughs and Jack leans down to whisper in the Doctor's ear.

"It's the smile for me. How about you?" He chuckled as she elbowed him with a scowl.

"Saxon, what are you talkin' about?" President Winters asks and Saxon's face turns serious as he faces him.

"I'm taking control, Uncle Sam. Starting with you." He turns to the Toclafane. "Kill him."

One of the Toclafane shoots President Winters with a laser and he disintegrates before chaos erupts as everyone tries to leave the room as Saxon's people pull out their weapons.

"Guards!" Saxon laughs.

"Nobody move! Nobody move!" A guard shouts and everyone freezes.

"Now then, people of the Earth, please attend carefully." Saxon says, looking into the camera and the Doctor takes a deep breath before rushing forward, straight at Saxon.

"Stop her!" A guard shouts and two guards grab the Doctor, using their superior strength to force her to kneel on the floor.

"We meet at last, Doctor. Oh, ho! I love saying that!" Saxon says, walking closer to the Doctor's kneeling form.

"Stop this! Stop it now!" She says, pulling away from the guards grip which refused to let her go. Saxon kneeled down in front of her, smiling at the sight of her restrained.

"As if a perception filter's gonna work on me." He whispers, taking the key from her hand causing her to relax in the guards hold, knowing she couldn't do anything now. "But look! She's still trying!" Saxon shouts in an amused voice before leaning closer to her face. "Not physically of course. That's not the Doctor's style." He reaches up a hand and touches her temple causing her to freeze. She could feel him, much closer than before than when he was merely leaning into her. "It all happens in here," He whispers and she could feel him creeping in her mind but not doing anything, he was just trying to frighten her and whilst she wouldn't admit it, she was frightened. He could easily get complete control over her mind. However, he quickly jumps up and faces Jack and Mark who was watching the display in horror. "Oh, and look, it's the girlie and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which." Jack rushes towards Saxon who smirks, firing a laser which collided with ajack's running form and knocked him off his feet. "Laser screwdriver, who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!"He cries happily as Mark goes to Jack.

"Master, just calm down." The Doctor says calmly. "Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. This isn't you..." She says and Saxon sighs, looking at the Doctor who looked back up with big eyes and a completely innocent face.

"Oh, do excuse me, little bit of personal business. Back in a minute." Saxon says into the camera before turning back around to face the Doctor. "Let her go." He says, walking down to her as the guards push her onto the floor and grabbing her arms and pulling her up to face him.

"It's that sound, the sound in your head. What if I could help?" She asks and he sighs, looking irritated.

"You_ can't _help!" He hisses before walking away.

"How do you know that?" She calls after him, crossing her arms over her chest and looking irritated herself.

"Oh, how to shut her up?" He asks, looking over his shoulder at the Doctor who had suddenly stiffened. "I know. We could go down Memory Lane! Only partly, after all our Doctor's been around a bit," He says, sitting on the steps to face the Doctor but catching Mark's annoyed look as he said that. "Professor Lazarus. Remember him? And his genetic manipulation device?" The Doctor did remember and didn't like where this was going.

"Did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver…" He pauses and looks over at the Doctor who was carefully watching him "But I have a better idea!" He says and jumps down the steps to land in front of the Doctor, his hands immediately going to her temples without giving her a chance to stop him. Immediately, her whole body stiffened and she slumped forward into Saxon's chest who wrapped his arms around her with a chuckle, pulling her up and looking down at her head. "This will be much more fun," He says.

_"Teleport." Jack says as Saxon's hands touched the Doctor's temples and he handed Mark the manipulator. _

_"I can't." Mark says, turning away when the Doctor collapses into Saxon._

_"We can't stop him. Get out of here. Get out whilst you still have a chance to stop this," Jack says, his eyes on the vulnerable Doctor._

Saxon was still holding the Doctor and laughs as he sees Mark crawling over to where they were stood. He lays the Doctor on the floor and smirks as her eyes flutter open, staring at Saxon with glazed eyes.

"Doctor, I've got you." Mark says, wrapping his arms around the Doctor and holding her against him as her hands tightly grip his arms but her eyes were unfocused as she tried to look around the room.

"Aw, look at that. She's left you defenseless Mark Jones." Saxon says with a cruel smirk, taking a step towards Mark.

"Not whilst I'm still here," Jack calls and once again falls to the floor when Saxon's laser hits him.

"I love doing that," Saxon grins. "But tonight, Mark Jones, we've flown 'em in all the way from prison—" As he says that, a door slides open and guards escort Francine, Clive and Tish into the room who immediately sought out Mark.

"Mum." Mark breathes, looking at her sadly.

"I'm sorry." Francine says, softly crying as she stared at her son.

"The Toclafane," Mark looks down at the Doctor who was looking better, her skin was gaining colour and her eyes were focused on Saxon who was looking at her with calculating eyes. "Who are they?" She breathed and Saxon kneels down in front of her.

"Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break." He says quite seriously, touching her temple again and she leans back against Mark again, her breathing becoming slightly more ragged.

"Is it time?" A Toclafane asks Saxon who was staring at the Doctor who stared back through half closed eyes. Mark was watching the exchange and tightened his arms around the Doctor, attempting to pull her away from Saxon.

"Is it ready?" Another Toclafane asks.

"Is the machine singing?" The last one asks as Saxon stands up, checking his watch.

"Two minutes past." He says, climbing up the steps and walking to stand by Lucy who had stayed silent through everything that had happened. Saxon turns to look into the camera. "So! Earthlings. Basically, um, end of the world." He holds up his screwdriver. "Here…come…the drums!"

The paradox machine activates and the Doctor flinched slightly as she could feel the TARDIS' pain. Saxon puts his arm around Lucy and looks out the window where a rift had opened above the Valiant which was allowing Toclafane by the thousands to fly down to Earth, as Saxon and Lucy watch safely from the bridge.

"How many do you think?" Saxon asks.

"I don't know." Lucy breathes, her eyes fixated on the sight in front if her.

"Six billion." Saxon says with a smile and switches on an outside speaker. "Down you go, kids!" He calls to the Toclafane; they all swarm down to Earth, zeroing in on large cities and firing against the frightened people who had entered the streets to see what was happening.

"Shall we decimate them?" Saxon asks Lucy. "That sounds good. Nice word—decimate." He says before speaking directly to the Toclafane. "Remove one-tenth of the population!"

The Toclafane burst into people's homes; Mark let's a tear fall as he listens to the messages coming in from the surface, holding the Doctor tightly in his arms and clutching the manipulator in his hand.

_"Valiant, this is Geneva! We're getting slaughtered down here!"_

Mark stands, laying the Doctor on the floor lightly.

_"Help us, for God's sake! Help us! They're everywhere!"_

_"This is London, Valiant! This is London calling! What do we do?"_

Mark looks at his family and towards Jack.

_"They're killing us! The Toclafane are killing us!"_

With a last look at the Doctor, Mark activates the teleporter. The Doctor and Jack exchange a look before the Doctor turns to look at Saxon.

_Mark arrives in a field overlooking the destruction of London._

_"I'm coming back." Was all he says before he runs off. _

Saxon walks to the Doctor, wrapping his arm around her waist and forcing her to walk to the window, forcing her to watch the fall of Earth.

"And so it came to pass…that the human race fell and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as master of all and I thought it…good."

And the Doctor watched, not sure when she had last felt this helpless to help someone.


	10. A Year of Torture

A Year of Torture 

_"And so it came to pass…that the human race fell and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as master of all and I thought it…good."_

"Well at least one of us does," The Doctor tries to say but it came out as a hoarse whisper, causing the Master to chuckle. He suddenly turns them both around, pushing the Doctor's stiff body at Lucy who held up the taller woman as best as she could. The Master jumped down the stairs, grinning around the room.

"Don't you all have work to do?" He asks in a loud voice and suddenly, the guards were escorting people out until the only people left in the room were the three Jones', Jack, Lucy, the Doctor and the Master. The Master turns to look at the frightened forms of Francine, Clive and Tish and smiles.

"Well, well, well. The Jones family! What should we do with you?" He asks, walking around the three in a circle before jumping. "I know!" He shouts, causing everyone to jump at the sudden shout. "We need people to clean the Valiant. Take them to get their new uniforms!" He says to a nearby guard who nods, leading the three out of the bridge.

"And what about the freak?" The Master says, looking at Jack's figure which was still on the floor.

"How about you let me go and we forget all this happened?" Jack asks with a grin and the Master chuckles.

"Or I could do this!" And once again Jack collapsed to the floor, dead once more. The Master laughs and runs back up the stairs, stopping in front of Lucy and the Doctor. "And now you," He whispers, holding out his arms for Lucy to place the Doctor in which she does quickly and gladly. He carries her down the steps and seats her on a chair, standing behind her and placing his hands softly, almost delicately, on her shoulders.

"Everyone leave!" He suddenly shouts and the guards all walk out of the room in unison, glad to be away from the Master's imposing presence. Lucy, however, stops behind the Master and softly touches his arm.

"Harry?" She asks softly, flinching as the Master turns to look at her with icy eyes.

"Leave," He hisses and she quickly does so, glaring at the Doctor as she does. The Master runs his hands up the Doctor's neck and over her face before they came to rest on her temples. She stiffens, her eyes closing, as she felt his presence in her mind once again.

"What did you do?" She asks, her eyes still closed.

"Oh, that was nothing. You should be afraid of what I'm _going _to do to you," He chuckles.

"And what _are _you going to do to me?" She asks and her eyes open when she feels his presence leave her mind and his fingers leave her temples. She watches as he walks around her to sit on the table in front of her.

"How did it feel?" He asks and the Doctor blinks at the confusing subject change. "The emptiness." He specifies, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow as she stayed still, not leaning back to get away from him. "It must be so quiet in here," He says, tapping her temple softly. "with no other Time Lords out there," He says and she shakes her head.

"It doesn't have to be anymore. It's just you and me now," She says and the Master laughs.

"As you keep saying," He says. "I'm bored now," He says and his hands reach out towards her temples.

"You always did have a short attention span," She quickly says before falling unconscious as his fingers came into contact with her skin.

The Master smiles and looks at the sleeping form of the Doctor, many ideas running through his mind.

*Doctor Who*

When the Doctor woke she noticed that the room she was in was actually well-decorated. However, the thing she assumed the thing that woke her was the figure stood at the bottom of the bed she was laying on, his fingers tapping that four beat rhythm which was quickly getting on the Doctor's nerves.

"Could you please stop doing that?" She asked, stretching slightly to get rid of the stiffness in her limbs. The Master grinned and jumped onto the large bed beside the Doctor, causing her to groan as her body was jerked. He moved beside her, laying on his side and resting his head on his fist, grinning down at the Doctor.

"Good morning," He says cheerily and the Doctor glares up at him, causing him to laugh. "Oh don't be like that! You should be enjoying your last moments as a free person," He grins and the Doctor stares into his eyes.

"What are you going to do?" He asks and the Master's grin falls as he stares down at her seriously.

"I know you." He says and the Doctor says nothing, just continues staring at him. "And I know that physical torture will be a breeze for you. Mental, on the other hand..." He says and his hand once again touches her temple and the Doctor curses herself at that sense of familiarity which she shouldn't be feeling.

She could feel him moving through her mind and she gritted her teeth as he moves, not bothering to be gentle. She could feel him looking through her memories of every companion, regeneration and journey through time and space. She blinked as he moved backwards through her memories, continuing going back until she saw Gallifrey and herself as a young Time Lord, not even out of the Academy. He stopped there and she saw herself and the Master, young and happy, before everything turned black.

*Doctor Who*

The Master looked down at the Doctor, wondering if this was going to become a routine between them, and smirked in excitement of the Doctor's reaction when she awoke. It had been two hours and thirty eight minutes exactly since he had gone through her mind; he knew this due to his sensitive time perception. He sighed as the Doctor moved but didn't wake. She annoyed him even when she was unconscious.

Ten minutes later, the Doctor's eyes fluttered open and she stared up at the Master with growing confusion. "What?" She asks, looking up at him and his insane grin. She sat up, looking around the room with wide eyes before turning back to the Master who was almost bouncing up and down in his glee.

"Oh, this is remarkable." He chuckles, leaning closer to her face and the Doctor automatically leans away, falling off the bed. The Master laughs as she quickly gets to her feet, moving backwards to put as much effort between her and the man in front of her. "Do you know who I am?" He asks, sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning forward in anticipation of the answer.

"No," She replies slowly and the Master laughs, jumping up and dancing to music that couldn't be heard. "I should, but I..." She flinches as she tries to remember but all she could feel was fire. The Master laughs as she collapses, her hand going to her head. He walks over to her, kneeling in front of her and placing his hands on either side of her head and looking into her eyes which showed nothing but pain and he almost missed that shine that was present in every regeneration of hers and was purely the Doctor.

"You can't remember anything at all. Yet," He says, standing up and walking to the door as the Doctor gets to her feet. The fire in her mind was gone now and she could remember Gallifrey. She could remember that beautiful planet she called home and remembered the rest of her people and wondered why there was no link between her and anyone, except for the man in the room with her.

The Master stopped at the door and turned to face the Doctor who was deep in thought.

"You can easily get your memories back. Just think," He says with a grin and she stares at him.

"But it burns. Every time I think I remember and it feels like I'm being burned alive," She whimpers at the end and the Master's grin falls slightly. He loved torturing her and bringing her pain, but deep down he remembered the little eight year old girl he met at the Academy.

"That's the point," He says brightly, leaving the room quickly and walking away as the Doctor falls on the bed. She closes her eyes and lets herself fall in the fire, opening her eyes just as quickly as the fire once again burned at her.

*Doctor Who*

He visited her the next day and found her with her eyes closed and her face set in a grimace. He knocked loudly, grinning as she jumped up in surprise. He walked in and sat on the edge of her bed, wondering how much she remembered now. His unasked question was answered when she threw herself at him, almost knocking the two of them off the end with her surprising strength.

"Koschei!" She grins, her arms wrapped tight around him and he groans, pushing her away and holding her at arms length. He eyed her carefully.

"How much do you remember ". He asks and she rolls her eyes.

"Not much but I don't really feel like going through all that fire again so I stopped." The Master sighed as he listened to her talk; this was Theta Sigma, not the Doctor. "Where are we anyway?" She asked before looking at him closely. "And why do you look old?" She asked and was unprepared for the slap she received and looked up in shock. The Master glared down at her before grabbing her arm and pulling her away to a bathroom which held a mirror. He shoved her in front of it, watching her eyes widen as she looked at herself. Her Tenth regeneration was much older than the memories she had and he enjoyed the lost look she held on her face.

"Oh Doctor. What would people think if they saw you now? The great and wonderful Doctor, scared of her own mind," He says and a tear runs down the Doctor's face as she stared at herself. Her teenage body was gone and placed in a body of a woman.

"Is that who I am now? The Doctor?" She asks and the Master raises an eyebrow at her but nods. "And what about you? I presume you are no longer Koschei," She says and the Master smirks, not saying anything. "What happened to you? And to everyone else? Where are they?" She asks and the Master laughs.

"You know the answers. You just need to remember," He says, walking away and leaving the Doctor to stare at her reflection.

*Doctor Who*

Lucy Saxon was walking to the room that she knew held the Doctor. Harry - or the Master as she was supposed to call him now - hadn't told her anything concerning the Doctor and Lucy wanted answers about who she was to him. Lucy knew there was something between the two but Harry refused to answer any questions, instead glaring at her with eyes like ice before continuing with whatever evil plan he was working on.

She stopped outside one of the many rooms aboard the Valiant and opened the door. She walked inside and found herself staring at the Doctor who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Who are you?" She asked and Lucy scoffed.

"Oh come now, don't play stupid. I want to know - _need _to know - who you are to him." Lucy says and the Doctor blinks.

"To who?" She asks and Lucy laughs lightly.

"And to think you were apparently the only one who could stop him. He was wrong about you," She says, turning back around and heading to the door with her head held high. She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder at the confused Doctor. "He's mine, you know. No matter who you were to him once upon a time," She says and walks out the room, leaving a determined Doctor who wanted to know who she was.


	11. Last of the Time Lords: 1

_An extra chapter because I'm feeling happy :) Just been to watch Titanic... Yes I cried._

Last of the Time Lords

Tina Milligan held an old fashioned in her hand as a boat offshore answers with a light of its own. A figure dressed in black wades ashore and strides up the beach. Mark Jones walked up to the figure in front of him and stands in front of her.

"What's your name, then?" He asks.

"Tina Milligan. No need to ask who you are, the famous Mark Jones. How long since you were last in Britain?" She asks.

"365 days. It's been a long year." He replies, looking around as they both start walking up the beach.

"So what's the plan?" Tina asks, leading the way with the lamp in her hand.

"This Professor Docherty. I need to see her. Can you get me there?" Mark asks.

"She works in a repair shed, Nuclear Plant 7. I can get you inside. What's all this for? What's so important about her?" Tina asks.

"Sorry, the more you know, the more you're at risk." Mark replied and he finds it weird how much he sounded like the Doctor at that minute.

"There's a lot of people depending on you. You're a bit of a legend." Tina says instead, leaving the subject for the time being.

"What does the legend say?" Mark asks amused, knowing who the legend really was.

"That you sailed the Atlantic, walked across America. That you're the only person to get out of Japan alive. 'Mark Jones', they say, 'He's gonna save the world.' Bit late for that." Tina says, walking to a truck in front of them

"How come you can drive? Don't you get stopped?" He asked confused and Tina smiled, he actually looked quite cute like that.

"Medical staff. Used to be in paediatrics back in the old days. But that gives me a license to travel so I can help out at the labour camps." She replied.

"Great. I'm travelling with a Doctor." Mark mutters to himself - finding the situation amusing after a year of travelling the Earth - as they both got into the truck.

"Story goes, that you're the only person on Earth who can kill him. That you, and you alone, can kill the Master stone dead." She says and Marks face falls, causing him to look older than he ever had.

"Let's just drive." He says pointedly and Tina nods, starting the truck and driving towards where she knew Professor Docherty to be.

*Doctor Who*

_"Citizens rejoice. Your lord and Master stands on high playing Track 3."_

The Doctor sighed and shook her head as the Master's voice could be heard over the speakers. She was sat at the large table in the Valiant's bridge with several guards surrounding her. She looks up as the door to the conference room/bridge opens and the Master spins and I Can't Decide by the Scissor Sisters begins to play, causing the Doctor to groan in annoyance as the Master sings along.

The Master struts in, sliding towards Lucy who was wearing a long red gown and standing as silent as always. The Master had ordered her to 'look pretty and don't be heard' and the Doctor wondered whether she still held onto her love for him, even though he had plainly stated she was useless to him. He grabs Lucy's hands, spinning her with him until his eyes landed on the exhausted Doctor with a grin.

He dances up to her, the guards moving for their Master, and spins the chair she was sat in before sitting in the one next to her and spinning himself as Francine serves him tea, looking frightened and tired in her maid's uniform. He takes a sip of tea before throwing it onto the floor with a grin. Francine automatically bent down to clean up the mess, used to the Master's impulsive and destructive ways.

The Master then grabs the Doctor from her chair, wrapping an arm around her and dancing around the room with her as the Doctor had no choice but to follow his lead. The Master dances the Doctor around the room, ending up by one of the windows.

"It's ready to rise, Doctor. The new Time Lord Empire." He grins at the view out side as several Toclafane spheres float by. "It's good, isn't it? Isn't it good? Anything? No? Anything?" He waves his hand in front of the Doctor's face who continues to blankly stare out of the window. "Oh, but they broke your hearts, didn't they? Those Toclafane, ever since you worked out what they really are. They say Mark Jones…has come back home. Now why would he do that?" He asks and the Doctor turns around to look at him.

"Leave him alone," She hisses and the Master smirks, leaning closer to her face.

"Oh, there she is. The famous Doctor, the woman who could defend a planet only with her words," He smirks, placing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her even closer. His hand reaches up and lightly taps her temple, warning her that he would enter her mind again and make it burn if he had to.

"But you said something to him, didn't you? On the day I took control. What did you tell him?" He asks and the Doctor turns her head to look at him, knowing that he was irritated with how she had locked away those memories.

"I have one thing to say to you. You know what it is." She says and the Master stiffens, unwrapping his arm and pulling her away from the window.

"Oh, no you don't!" He says, pulling her back to her seat.

"Valiant now entering Zone One airspace. Citizens rejoice." A voice says and the Master claps his hands.

"Come on, people! What are we doing? Launch Day in 24 hours!" The Master says. The Doctor looks at him from the corner of her eye, pressing three fingers against her thigh which was noticed by Francine as she walks by and out into a corridor past Clive, who is now a janitor. She holds up three fingers and keeps walking. When Tish, also a maid, passes Clive, he signals her with three fingers. Tish approaches a gated area and a guard lets her in, and she walks until she find Jack whose wrists were manacled, arms outstretched, the chains attached to the wall on either side but Jack was grinning as he looked at Tish. "Ah, smell that sea air. Makes me long for good old fish and chips. Yeah. What do I get? Cold mashed swede. Some hotel. Last time I book over the Internet."

Tish feeds him a spoonful then holds three fingers against the tray where he can see it. Jack winks at Tish who smiles.

*Doctor Who*

A clock on the bridge of the Valiant reads 14:58. The Doctor looks over at Francine and Tish who were both watching her with uneasy expressions on their faces. Whilst the Master didn't torture the Doctor so much, he didn't hesitate to punish any humans. At the same time, Clive and Jack can both see the time and Jack begins to pull on his chains. The Master walks into the room followed by Lucy and walks straight to the Doctor.

"Have you thought any more about my offer?" He asks quietly and the Doctor nods slightly. "And has your answer changed?" He rolls his eyes as she shakes her head. "Oh, you've always been difficult! And I was gonna take you to Katria Nova. Whirlpools of gold. Do you remember when we learnt about that in the Academy? Well, we weren't doing much learning, were we?" He says with a smirk and the Doctor scowled.

_As Jack pulled with all his strength, the bolts holding Jack's chains were slowly coming free of the wall._

"Oh don't be like that Lucy!" The Master says amused as he notices the glare that Lucy was giving the Doctor. "You two should get to know each other. That might be fun." He says, looking down at the Doctor.

_Jack groans as he pulls the chains free. He then pulls out a steam hose and turns it on his guard. At the same time, Clive throws water on some exposed wiring, starting a fire._

"Condition red!"

"What the hell?" The Master asks, going up the stairs to the bridge as Francine grabs the Master's jacket and throws it to Tish who hands it to the Doctor. The Doctor takes out the laser screwdriver and aims it at the Master who sighs.

"Oh, I see." He says, putting his hands up in surrender.

"I told you. I have one thing to say." She says, looking at the screwdriver in confusion when it doesn't work and the Master starts to laugh.

_Clive was stopped by guards at the age time and armed guards stop Jack._

_"Oh, here we go again." He groans, putting out his arms as the guards fire at him without any hesitation._

The Doctor keeps trying the screwdriver and the Master leans over, taking the screwdriver from her hands.

"Isomorphic controls." He says before backhanding the Doctor, sending her to the floor. "Which means they only work for me. Like this." And then he shoots the wall beside Francine. "Say sorry!" He demands.

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry!" She cries and Tish runs to her, pulling her into a hug.

"Didn't you learn anything from the blessed Saint Mark?" He asks and Lucy runs over, picking up his jacket, and helping him put it on. "Siding with the Doctor is a very dangerous thing to do. Take them away."

"Move! Come on." A guard says, forcing Francine and Tish out.

"Okay. Gotcha." The Master says, walking down the stairs and pulling the Doctor up from where she was still sat on the floor. She pushes his hands away and walks to sit in one of the chairs, the Master following with a roll of his eyes. He sits on the table in front of her. "Oh, do you know, I remember the days when the Doctor, oh, that famous Doctor, was waging a time war. Battling Sea Devils and Axons. She sealed the rift at the Medusa Cascade single-handed. Ooh. And look at her now. Stealing screwdrivers. How did she ever come to this? Oh yeah. Me!" The Master laughs.

"I just need you to listen." She replies and the Master scowls.

"No, it's my turn. Revenge! Best served hot. And this time… It's a message for Mister Jones."

*Doctor Who*

Tina cuts a hole in a chain-link fence large enough for the two of them to squeeze through. They then run across an open area of the compound before reaching their destination. Professor Docherty, an older woman, is hitting an old monitor when they find her.

"Professor Docherty?" Tina asks the other woman.

"Busy." Was all she said and Mark and Tina turn to look at each other.

"They, uh, they sent word ahead. I'm Tina Milligan. This is Mark Jones." Tina introduces.

"I don't care who he is. I'm still busy." Professor Docherty says.

"Televisions don't work anymore." Mark says, looking pointedly at the television she was trying to fix.

"Oh, God, I miss Countdown. Hasn't been the same since Des took over. Both Deses. What's the plural of Des? Desii? Deseen? But we've been told there's gonna be a transmission." She says, banging the monitor with her hand. "From the man himself." She announces and static appears onscreen. "There!" She says as a grainy black and white shot of the Master appears.

"My people." He says, looking straight into the camera. "Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope." The Master then pulls the Doctor to his side. "But I ask you…how much hope has this woman got? Say hello, Doctor." The Doctor was staring at the ground, her arms crossed over her chest as the Master's arm came around her shoulders, but she didn't say anything. "Oh, so now she stays quiet." He says, mostly to himself but turns to look at the camera again. "I guess that most of you don't even know who this is. You see an ordinary woman, and I guess that most of you even think that she is human! But she's not, she's a Time Lady with a much greater lifespan than you stunted, little apes. So that means that she has a lot more... Memories." He pulls the Doctor in front of him, touching her temples with her hands and everyone watches as the Doctor writhes in agony as the Master moves through her mind and brought up her memories, forcing her to retreat into her own mind and relive painful memories. "Back you go, Doctor." The Doctor's would've fallen to the floor if the Master hadn't wrapped his arms around her. He then looks up into the camera. "Received and understood, Mister Jones?" He says and the transmission ends.

"I'm sorry." Tina says, looking over at Mark who was still staring at the television with a smile.

"The Doctor's still alive." He says happily.


End file.
